Northampton, PA 18001 Frost Dates
18001, near Northampton, PA: the frost window
The last spring frost here typically falls around 04/20, about 235 days from today. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/24, roughly 184 days after the last spring frost.
Zone 7a (0 to 5°F average annual minimum) comes from the USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map; the frost dates above are the 1991-2020 normal at the nearest reporting NOAA station for Northampton, not a forecast for this year.
Stretching the season past the first frost
Northampton's growing season runs out in roughly 8 weeks — a cold frame or greenhouse kit is the usual way to keep cool-weather crops going past the first frost.
How much risk comes with planting early here
04/20 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/06 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/06 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Northampton against the rest of the dataset
Northampton's growing season runs about 184 days, ranking 23,465 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within PA, it ranks 758 of 2,088.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 18001: the frost range, on how to read the range around Northampton's dates instead of trusting one, and local microclimates, on what one yard in Northampton can differ from the 18001 normal.