Molalla, OR 97042 Frost Dates
Molalla, OR: when does the frost end?
The last spring frost here typically falls around 03/16, about 200 days from today. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 11/19, roughly 247 days after the last spring frost.
Zone 8b (15 to 20°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 Molalla, not a forecast for this year.
Stretching the season past the first frost
With roughly 12 weeks until Molalla's first fall frost, a row cover or cold frame is what stretches the last few weeks of harvest here.
Why 03/16 isn't a guarantee
03/16 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 02/24 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 04/12 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Molalla against the rest of the dataset
At roughly 247 frost-free days, Molalla places 7,815 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within OR, it ranks 98 of 463.
Learn more
Before leaning on 97042's figures: local microclimates explains what one yard in Molalla can differ from the 97042 normal, while zone vs. frost date explains why Zone 8b and Molalla's frost date answer different questions.