Elma, WA 98583 Frost Dates
Frost dates for Elma, WA, ZIP 98583
Around 05/01 is the usual last spring frost, about 246 days away. The first fall frost typically arrives around 10/14, about 169 frost-free days later.
Zone 8b (15 to 20°F average annual minimum) comes from the USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map; the frost dates above are the 1991-2020 normal at the nearest reporting NOAA station for Elma, not a forecast for this year.
What to do before the first frost
Zone 8b around Elma has about 7 weeks left before the first fall frost — that's the usual window to get a cold frame up if you want to keep harvesting past it.
The actual range around Elma's last frost
05/01 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Plant by 04/11 and you're betting against frost in roughly 9 years out of 10. 05/19 is the safer bet, historically only a 1-in-10 chance of frost that late.
How Elma compares
At roughly 169 frost-free days, Elma places 29,435 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within WA, it ranks 526 of 700.
Learn more
local microclimates explains what one yard in Elma can differ from the 98583 normal, and zone vs. frost date explains why Zone 8b and Elma's frost date answer different questions.