Rainier, OR 97048 Frost Dates
97048, near Rainier, OR: the frost window
Around 04/08 is the usual last spring frost, about 223 days away. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 11/05, roughly 210 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 Rainier, not a forecast for this year.
Stretching the season past the first frost
Rainier's growing season runs out in roughly 10 weeks — a cold frame or greenhouse kit is the usual way to keep cool-weather crops going past the first frost.
Why 04/08 isn't a guarantee
04/08 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 03/11 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/02 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Rainier against the rest of the dataset
About 210 days separate Rainier's last and first frost, putting it 15,030 of 40,283 ZIP codes nationally. Within OR, it ranks 208 of 463.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 97048: the frost range, on how to read the range around Rainier's dates instead of trusting one, and local microclimates, on what one yard in Rainier can differ from the 97048 normal.