Ellensburg, WA 98946 Frost Dates
98946, near Ellensburg, WA: the frost window
The last spring frost here typically falls around 04/28, about 243 days from today. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/07, roughly 163 days after the last spring frost.
Ellensburg sits in USDA Zone 7a (0 to 5°F average annual minimum). The dates above are NOAA's 1991-2020 normal at the nearest reporting station, a 30-year average, not a forecast.
Stretching the season past the first frost
Ellensburg's growing season runs out in roughly 6 weeks — a cold frame or greenhouse kit is the usual way to keep cool-weather crops going past the first frost.
Why 04/28 isn't a guarantee
04/28 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/13 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/12 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Ellensburg against the rest of the dataset
About 163 days separate Ellensburg's last and first frost, putting it 31,334 of 40,283 ZIP codes nationally. Within WA, it ranks 560 of 700.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 98946: zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 7a and Ellensburg's frost date answer different questions, and the frost range, on how to read the range around Ellensburg's dates instead of trusting one.