Willamina, OR 97396 Frost Dates
97396, near Willamina, OR: the frost window
Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 04/16, roughly 231 days out. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 11/01, roughly 199 days after the last spring frost.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Willamina 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
Willamina'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.
How much risk comes with planting early here
04/16 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 03/21 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/05 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Willamina against the rest of the dataset
About 199 days separate Willamina's last and first frost, putting it 18,131 of 40,283 ZIP codes nationally. Within OR, it ranks 237 of 463.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 97396: local microclimates, on what one yard in Willamina can differ from the 97396 normal, and zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 8b and Willamina's frost date answer different questions.