Worcester, MA Frost Dates: Last Spring and First Fall Frost

Frost leaves Worcester on April 23 and comes back on October 21 when the odds are even, a window of 181 days for tender plants.

Even odds are a coin toss, so plan around the safer edges: one spring in ten still has a freeze on or after May 5, and one fall in ten has its first freeze by October 6. The median season across the 100 cities on these pages is 229 days; Worcester comes up 48 days short of it, 85th on the list.

These dates come from the NOAA weather station Worcester Regional AP (ID USW00094746), 3.3 miles west of the Census Bureau's internal point for Worcester, at about 1,000 feet above sea level.

When is the last frost in Worcester?

One year in ten has a freeze on or after May 5. In nine years out of ten there is still a freeze on or after April 11, and half of years see one on or after April 23.

From the 90% date to the 10% date is 24 days, a short span next to most cities here, which makes the spring calendar in Worcester steadier than average.

Worcester's first fall frost, by chance

A first freeze on or before October 6 happens one fall in ten. By October 21 half of years have had one, and by November 3 nine years in ten have.

Fall frost keeps to a tight calendar in Worcester: 28 days from the 10% date to the 90% date, less than in most of the 100 cities here.

Worcester's frost-free season

The season is somewhat shorter than the middle of these pages, so a seed packet's days to maturity deserve a second look. A short year costs just 21 days against a typical one (160 days against 181 days), so a season-length plan for Worcester holds up in most years.

These figures are NOAA's own counts of freeze-free days across its simulated years, which is why they can differ a little from the days between the two typical dates. A night at or below 32°F happens in 100% of years at this station, so frost is a yearly event here.

Hard freeze dates for Worcester

The typical 28°F night comes on November 1 in fall, 11 days after the first 32°F frost, and the last one comes on April 11 in spring, 12 days before the last 32°F frost. At the edges, a 28°F night on or after April 22 happens one spring in ten and one by October 17 one fall in ten; the nine-in-ten dates are April 1 and November 15.

Using Worcester's frost dates in the garden

The University of New Hampshire Extension sheet times each crop from the last frost. For Worcester's typical date, April 23, that means cabbage on March 26, lettuce from March 26 to April 2, seed potatoes from April 9 to April 16, and, once the frost is behind you, peppers on May 7 and beans on or after April 23. Peas have no frost-based date in the University of New Hampshire Extension sheet: they go in as soon as the soil thaws.

The late date comes 12 days after the typical one; choose it for plants you cannot cover.

Of the 34 crops in the fall planner, 25 still have a July-or-later last planting day in Worcester once NC State Extension's days to harvest and University of Georgia Extension's harvest allowance of 18 days are counted back from frost. The other 9 do not. Of the crops that fit, cabbage is the slowest: 93 days from planting to the early frost, which makes July 5 its last day.

Worked example: tomatoes in Worcester

A gardener in Worcester who follows University of New Hampshire Extension sets tomato transplants out one to two weeks after the last frost: April 30 to May 7 from the typical date of April 23, or May 12 to May 19 from the late date of May 5, 12 days later.

Seeds start six to eight weeks before the set-out day, so counting back from the first day of the late window gives March 17 to March 31 for sowing indoors.

That leaves 140 days against 75 to 85 days for the plants to reach harvest, so even the late schedule fits in an early-frost year with 55 days to spare.

About the Worcester Regional AP station

The station is 3.3 miles west of the Census Bureau's internal point for Worcester, near enough to be the city's reference record, though not in the same yard.

NOAA lists it at about 1,000 feet, higher than 70 and lower than 29 of the 100 stations in this set. NOAA flags this station's record as standard, the code S, for the data behind its 50% last-frost value.

Because the Census file has no elevation for Worcester, we cannot say how far your yard is above or below this station. When yours is clearly higher or lower, open the nearby stations in the frost dates tool and favor the colder one.

Nearby cities and their frost dates

Of the cities on these pages, Boston, MA is closest to Worcester at 41 miles, with two more farther out; none is a close neighbor. Elevation differs: the station for Boston is 990 feet below the one for Worcester, which is worth remembering when you compare them.

• Boston, MA lies 41 miles east of Worcester. Typical last frost April 4, first frost November 9, 218 days between; spring frost ends 19 days sooner than in Worcester, and it has 37 days more without frost.
• Yonkers, NY lies 140 miles south-west of Worcester. Typical last frost April 20, first frost October 26, 189 days between; its last frost falls within a few days of Worcester's, and the frost-free season is 8 days longer than Worcester's.
• New York, NY (157 miles, south-west): the last frost is 22 days earlier than in Worcester, and the season runs 52 days longer. Its typical dates are April 1 and November 19, with 233 days frost-free.

Take these dates further

The frost dates tool opens on this station and lists every probability date, not just the ones above. From there, the spring planting planner and fall planting planner turn the dates into crop lists for Worcester, and the hardiness zone lookup answers what will overwinter.

Every city covered is on the city frost dates index, sorted by state.

Where these numbers come from

Every frost and freeze date comes from the station's entry in NOAA's U.S. Climate Normals for 1991–2020 (doi:10.25921/4ek7-fk11), with no adjustment, and NOAA's documentation explains what each probability means. The city and its internal point come from the Census Bureau's 2024 Gazetteer of places, and the ranking by size from the Census Bureau's Vintage 2024 city and town population estimates, which put Worcester at 211,286 people.

The planting dates apply the count rules in University of New Hampshire Extension, NC State Extension and University of Georgia Extension to this station's dates, with nothing added. Our methodology describes the tests behind every number.

NOAA's dates say how often frost has come, not when it will. Check the forecast before planting and keep a cover on hand.