Port Orchard, WA 98386 Frost Dates
98386, near Port Orchard, WA: the frost window
The last spring frost here typically falls around 03/13, about 197 days from today. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 11/17, roughly 247 days after the last spring frost.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Port Orchard in Zone 9a (20 to 25°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
Port Orchard's growing season runs out in roughly 12 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
03/13 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 02/20 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 04/01 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Port Orchard against the rest of the dataset
At roughly 247 frost-free days, Port Orchard places 7,804 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within WA, it ranks 154 of 700.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 98386: zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 9a and Port Orchard's frost date answer different questions, and the frost range, on how to read the range around Port Orchard's dates instead of trusting one.