Friday Harbor, WA 98279 Frost Dates
98279, near Friday Harbor, WA: the frost window
The last spring frost here typically falls around 02/26, about 182 days from today. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 11/29, roughly 276 days after the last spring frost.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Friday Harbor 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
Friday Harbor's growing season runs out in roughly 13 weeks — a cold frame or greenhouse kit is the usual way to keep cool-weather crops going past the first frost.
Why 02/26 isn't a guarantee
02/26 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 01/23 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 03/23 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Friday Harbor against the rest of the dataset
About 276 days separate Friday Harbor's last and first frost, putting it 5,103 of 40,283 ZIP codes nationally. Within WA, it ranks 6 of 700.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 98279: local microclimates, on what one yard in Friday Harbor can differ from the 98279 normal, and zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 8b and Friday Harbor's frost date answer different questions.