Frost dates for Lenox Dale, Massachusetts
Half of years have their last spring frost by May 7 — but 1 year in 10 still frosts after May 21.
Every other site gives you one date. A frost date is not a date: it is a percentile from 30 years of records at a nearby weather station, and planting to the median means losing the crop in half of years. Both numbers are below, so you can choose the risk yourself.
The odds
Last spring frost
- Frost this late in 1 year in 10
- May 21
- 1 year in 5
- May 17
- 3 years in 10
- May 13
- 2 years in 5
- May 10
- Half of years (the median)
- May 7
First fall freeze
- Freeze this early in 1 year in 10
- September 21
- 1 year in 5
- September 25
- 3 years in 10
- September 29
- 2 years in 5
- October 1
- Half of years (the median)
- October 3
- Growing season
- about 147 days
- Hardiness zones nearby
- 5b, 6a
Where these numbers come from
NOAA NCEI 1991–2020 Climate Normals, station Lenox Dale (USC00194131), at 42.34, -73.25. These are that station's own records, unshifted. The further your garden is from it, the less exactly they describe your ground — the planner resolves the nearest station to your own ZIP and lowers its confidence with distance, rather than presenting one number as if it were measured in your yard.
Cold air also pools in low ground on the clear, still nights when frost happens, so a hollow can freeze while a slope a hundred metres away does not. No table can know that about your garden. Your own logged frosts eventually can.
ZIP codes nearest this station
01011, 01029, 01098, 01201, 01222, 01223, 01224, 01225, 01226, 01229, 01230, 01235, 01236, 01237, 01238, 01240, 01242, 01243, 01244, 01245, 01253, 01254, 01255, 01257, 01258, 01259, 01260, 01262, 01264, 01266, 12017, 12024, 12029, 12060, 12062, 12125, 12165, 12168, 12195.
What can I plant here, and when? →
Nearby stations
The nearest stations, and how their last-frost dates compare — the frost gradient across your area, which no single station shows.
- Hudson Correctional Facility, NY — last frost by April 25
- Westfield Barnes Muni Ap, MA — last frost by May 3
- Rowe 3Ne, MA — last frost by May 14
- Bakersville, CT — last frost by May 8
- Albany Ap Hcn, NY — last frost by April 27
- Millbrook 3 W, NY — last frost by May 4
Other stations in Massachusetts.
- Belchertown, MA — last frost by May 3
- Tully Lake, MA — last frost by April 25
- Worcester Rgnl Ap, MA — last frost by April 23
- Natick, MA — last frost by April 26
- Lawrence Hcn, MA — last frost by April 13
- Hingham, MA — last frost by April 25
- Beverly, MA — last frost by May 4
- E Wareham, MA — last frost by April 21