Frost dates for Wilkes-Barre Intl Ap, Pennsylvania
Half of years have their last spring frost by April 23 — but 1 year in 10 still frosts after May 10.
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 10
- 1 year in 5
- May 4
- 3 years in 10
- April 30
- 2 years in 5
- April 27
- Half of years (the median)
- April 23
First fall freeze
- Freeze this early in 1 year in 10
- October 4
- 1 year in 5
- October 9
- 3 years in 10
- October 13
- 2 years in 5
- October 16
- Half of years (the median)
- October 20
- Growing season
- about 178 days
- Hardiness zones nearby
- 6a, 6b, 7a
Where these numbers come from
NOAA NCEI 1991–2020 Climate Normals, station Wilkes-Barre Intl Ap (USW00014777), at 41.33, -75.73. 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
18403, 18411, 18414, 18419, 18427, 18434, 18436, 18444, 18447, 18452, 18471, 18503, 18504, 18505, 18507, 18508, 18509, 18510, 18512, 18517, 18518, 18519, 18602, 18612, 18615, 18618, 18625, 18640, 18641, 18642, 18643, 18644, 18651, 18653, 18657, 18661, 18701, 18702, 18704, 18705, 18706, 18707, 18708, 18709.
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.
- Mt Pocono Mountains Ap, PA — last frost by May 6
- Pleasant Mt 1 W Hcn, PA — last frost by May 14
- Lehighton 1Ssw, PA — last frost by April 21
- Mahanoy City 2 N, PA — last frost by April 30
- Phillipsburg-Easton Brg, NJ — last frost by April 18
- Sussex 3 Wnw, NJ — last frost by April 30
Other stations in Pennsylvania.
- Selinsgrove 2 S Hcn, PA — last frost by April 25
- Hopewell Morgantown, PA — last frost by April 16
- Willow Grove Nas, PA — last frost by April 11
- Lancaster Ap, PA — last frost by April 18
- Middletown Harrisburg Intl Ap, PA — last frost by April 9
- Philadelphia Intl Ap, PA — last frost by April 2
- Carlisle Wtp, PA — last frost by April 23
- State College Hcn, PA — last frost by April 20