Salem, OR 97310 Frost Dates
97310, near Salem, OR: the frost window
Around 04/03 is the usual last spring frost, about 218 days away. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 11/01, roughly 212 days after the last spring frost.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Salem in Zone 8b (15 to 20°F average annual minimum); frost dates are NOAA's 1991-2020 station normal, not this year's forecast.
Stretching the season past the first frost
Salem's growing season runs out in roughly 9 weeks — a cold frame or greenhouse kit is the usual way to keep cool-weather crops going past the first frost.
The actual range around Salem's last frost
04/03 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 03/10 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 04/27 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Salem against the rest of the dataset
Salem's growing season runs about 212 days, ranking 14,551 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within OR, it ranks 196 of 463.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 97310: local microclimates, on what one yard in Salem can differ from the 97310 normal, and zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 8b and Salem's frost date answer different questions.