Yelm, WA 98597 Frost Dates
98597, near Yelm, WA: the frost window
Around 04/29 is the usual last spring frost, about 244 days away. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/14, roughly 169 days after the last spring frost.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Yelm 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
Yelm's growing season runs out in roughly 7 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
04/29 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/11 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/15 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Yelm against the rest of the dataset
At roughly 169 frost-free days, Yelm places 29,373 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within WA, it ranks 521 of 700.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 98597: zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 8b and Yelm's frost date answer different questions, and the frost range, on how to read the range around Yelm's dates instead of trusting one.