Rufus, OR 98673 Frost Dates
98673, near Rufus, OR: the frost window
Around 04/11 is the usual last spring frost, about 226 days away. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/26, roughly 197 days after the last spring frost.
Zone 7b (5 to 10°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 Rufus, not a forecast for this year.
Stretching the season past the first frost
Rufus's growing season runs out in roughly 8 weeks — a cold frame or greenhouse kit is the usual way to keep cool-weather crops going past the first frost.
Why 04/11 isn't a guarantee
04/11 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 03/24 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 04/28 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Rufus against the rest of the dataset
At roughly 197 frost-free days, Rufus places 18,825 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within OR, it ranks 240 of 463.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 98673: the frost range, on how to read the range around Rufus's dates instead of trusting one, and local microclimates, on what one yard in Rufus can differ from the 98673 normal.