FrostDateCheck

Bellingham, WA 98229 Frost Dates

Bellingham, WA: when does the frost end?

Zone 8a

Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 04/01, roughly 216 days out. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 11/02, roughly 216 days after the last spring frost.

Bellingham sits in USDA Zone 8a (10 to 15°F average annual minimum). The dates above are NOAA's 1991-2020 normal at the nearest reporting station, a 30-year average, not a forecast.

Stretching the season past the first frost

With roughly 9 weeks until Bellingham's first fall frost, a row cover or cold frame is what stretches the last few weeks of harvest here.

Why 04/01 isn't a guarantee

04/01 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 04/24 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.

Bellingham against the rest of the dataset

About 216 days separate Bellingham's last and first frost, putting it 13,700 of 40,283 ZIP codes nationally. Within WA, it ranks 249 of 700.

Learn more

Before leaning on 98229's figures: local microclimates explains what one yard in Bellingham can differ from the 98229 normal, while zone vs. frost date explains why Zone 8a and Bellingham's frost date answer different questions.