Federal Way, WA 98003 Frost Dates
98003, near Federal Way, WA: the frost window
Around 03/08 is the usual last spring frost, about 192 days away. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 11/14, roughly 250 days after the last spring frost.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Federal Way 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
Federal Way's growing season runs out in roughly 11 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 Federal Way's last frost
03/08 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 02/15 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 03/31 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Federal Way against the rest of the dataset
At roughly 250 frost-free days, Federal Way places 7,420 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within WA, it ranks 84 of 700.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 98003: the frost range, on how to read the range around Federal Way's dates instead of trusting one, and local microclimates, on what one yard in Federal Way can differ from the 98003 normal.