Reading, PA 19602 Frost Dates
Reading, PA: when does the frost end?
Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 04/14, roughly 229 days out. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/29, roughly 197 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 Reading, not a forecast for this year.
Stretching the season past the first frost
With roughly 9 weeks until Reading's first fall frost, a row cover or cold frame is what stretches the last few weeks of harvest here.
Why 04/14 isn't a guarantee
04/14 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/01 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 04/30 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Reading against the rest of the dataset
At roughly 197 frost-free days, Reading places 18,575 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within PA, it ranks 354 of 2,088.
Learn more
Before leaning on 19602's figures: zone vs. frost date explains why Zone 7a and Reading's frost date answer different questions, while the frost range explains how to read the range around Reading's dates instead of trusting one.