What USDA hardiness zone is Klickitat County, Washington?

Klickitat County, Washington spans USDA hardiness zones 7a to 8a. 50% of its ZIP codes are zone 7b, so there is no single zone for the county.

When is the last spring frost in Klickitat County, Washington?

The median last spring freeze runs April 6 – May 19 across the 6 NOAA weather stations serving Klickitat County, Washington, from NOAA 1991-2020 Climate Normals. Half of years freeze later than the median.

Washington

Planting zones in Klickitat County, Washington

This county spans USDA zones 7a to 8a, so there is no single zone for Klickitat County and anyone who gives you one is rounding. 50% of its ZIP codes are zone 7b; the rest are not.

USDA zones 7a–8a 3 zones across 14 ZIP codes

ZIP codes 14 14 have a NOAA station within range

Weather stations 6 NOAA 1991–2020 normals, across 1,872 sq mi

Your ZIP code

Get the exact answer for your address

Everything above describes Klickitat County, Washington as a whole. Hardiness zones and freeze dates are published per ZIP code, so yours is exact — enter it and this page will tell you your zone, which NOAA station it comes from and how far away that station is.

The growing season in Klickitat County is closing

Nothing in the 32-crop table still has time to mature here. The first fall freeze normally arrives September 25 – October 26 across the 6 NOAA stations serving this county .

Your next season already has a date

The first job of it is 🧅 Green Onions, start indoors, around February 9 – March 24 — counted back from a last spring freeze of April 6 – May 19 here.

Every spring date for your ZIP →

These are ranges across the whole county. The ZIP lookup above gives the dates from your own nearest station instead.

All 6 stations agreeAt least one station

Every one of the 6 NOAA stations serving this county counts May 19 – September 25 as growing season (129 days). Widening to any single station gives April 6 – October 26 (203 days).

That is a 74-day difference inside one county — which is why this page gives ranges rather than a single planting date. The ZIP lookup above resolves it to one station.

Which zone you are in depends where you are

Klickitat County covers 3 hardiness zones. A guide that gives the county one zone has picked whichever is largest and rounded everyone else into it — fine for the 50% in zone 7b and wrong for the other 50%. Here is the actual split.

Zone	ZIP codes	Share
7b	7	50%
7a	5	36%
8a	2	14%

Zones are published per ZIP code, so yours is exact even though the county's is not. The hardiness tool will tell you which one you are in.

Your freeze dates

Last spring freeze April 6 – May 19

First fall freeze September 25 – October 26

Across the 6 NOAA stations serving this county. These are medians — half of years freeze later than the date shown — so treat the later end of each range as the cautious one.

The growing season runs 125–197 days depending which station you are nearest, as published by NOAA rather than computed from the dates above. Summer highs average 75.1–86 °F in June–August. Summer rain over the same months runs 0.7–1.4" across those 4 stations, against the rough inch a week — about 13 inches over the same 92 days — that a vegetable garden is usually reckoned to want. The middle station covers about 6% of it, so a summer garden here is watered rather than rained on. The inches are NOAA's published normals; the inch a week is a rule of thumb, and it takes no account of a 83 °F summer afternoon drying the soil faster than a cool one.

Every ZIP code in Klickitat County

Zones are published per ZIP code, not per county, so this is the exact answer rather than the county's average. The station column is the nearest one to that ZIP code's centroid and how far away it is — the same figure the tools use, shown here so you can see which ZIP codes are well covered and which are reaching.

ZIP code	USDA zone	Nearest NOAA station	Distance
98602	7a	Snowden, WA	8.1 km
98613	7b	Goldendale, WA	11.7 km
98617	8a	The Dalles Muni AP, WA	3.4 km
98619	7a	Snowden, WA	18.4 km
98620	7a	Goldendale, WA	8.5 km
98623	8a	Snowden, WA	11.0 km
98628	7b	Goldendale, WA	17.9 km
98635	7b	The Dalles Muni AP, WA	14.6 km
98650	7a	Mt Adams RS, WA	5.9 km
98670	7b	Snowden, WA	16.9 km
98672	7b	Snowden, WA	9.2 km
98673	7b	Goldendale, WA	16.5 km
99322	7b	Bickleton, WA	12.6 km
99356	7a	Arlington, OR	16.9 km

ZIP-code positions are area centroids, so a large rural ZIP code's listed distance is measured from the middle of its area rather than from any particular address in it.

When to start seeds in Klickitat County

Every date below is anchored on the last spring freeze at each station and reported as a range across all 6 of them, because no one station speaks for the county.

Crop	Job	When	Offset
🧅 Green Onions	Start indoors	February 9 – March 24	8 wk before
🌶️ Peppers	Start indoors	February 9 – March 24	8 wk before
🥦 Broccoli	Start indoors	February 23 – April 7	6 wk before
🥬 Cabbage	Start indoors	February 23 – April 7	6 wk before
🥬 Collards	Start indoors	February 23 – April 7	6 wk before
🥬 Kale	Start indoors	February 23 – April 7	6 wk before
🥬 Leaf Lettuce	Start indoors	February 23 – April 7	6 wk before
🫛 Peas	Direct sow	February 23 – April 7	6 wk before
🥬 Spinach	Direct sow	February 23 – April 7	6 wk before
🍠 Sweet Potato	Start indoors	February 23 – April 7	6 wk before
🍅 Tomatoes	Start indoors	February 23 – April 7	6 wk before
🥬 Bok Choy	Start indoors	March 2 – April 14	5 wk before
🥬 Kohlrabi	Start indoors	March 2 – April 14	5 wk before
🥬 Swiss Chard	Start indoors	March 2 – April 14	5 wk before
🥬 Arugula	Direct sow	March 9 – April 21	4 wk before
🥬 Baby Salad Greens	Direct sow	March 9 – April 21	4 wk before
🥕 Beets	Direct sow	March 9 – April 21	4 wk before
🧅 Green Onions	Direct sow	March 9 – April 21	4 wk before
🥬 Mustard Greens	Direct sow	March 9 – April 21	4 wk before
🌶️ Okra	Start indoors	March 9 – April 21	4 wk before
🌱 Radishes	Direct sow	March 9 – April 21	4 wk before
🥔 Turnips	Direct sow	March 9 – April 21	4 wk before
🥬 Cabbage	Set out	March 16 – April 28	3 wk before
🥕 Carrots	Direct sow	March 16 – April 28	3 wk before
🥬 Collards	Direct sow	March 16 – April 28	3 wk before
🥬 Collards	Set out	March 16 – April 28	3 wk before
🥒 Cucumbers	Start indoors	March 16 – April 28	3 wk before
🧅 Green Onions	Set out	March 16 – April 28	3 wk before
🥬 Kale	Direct sow	March 16 – April 28	3 wk before
🥬 Kale	Set out	March 16 – April 28	3 wk before
🥬 Kohlrabi	Direct sow	March 16 – April 28	3 wk before
🥬 Kohlrabi	Set out	March 16 – April 28	3 wk before
🥬 Leaf Lettuce	Direct sow	March 16 – April 28	3 wk before
🎃 Pumpkins	Start indoors	March 16 – April 28	3 wk before
🎃 Summer Squash	Start indoors	March 16 – April 28	3 wk before
🎃 Winter Squash	Start indoors	March 16 – April 28	3 wk before
🥒 Zucchini	Start indoors	March 16 – April 28	3 wk before
🥬 Bok Choy	Direct sow	March 23 – May 5	2 wk before
🥬 Bok Choy	Set out	March 23 – May 5	2 wk before
🥦 Broccoli	Set out	March 23 – May 5	2 wk before
🌿 Cilantro	Direct sow	March 23 – May 5	2 wk before
🥬 Leaf Lettuce	Set out	March 23 – May 5	2 wk before
🥬 Swiss Chard	Direct sow	March 23 – May 5	2 wk before
🥬 Swiss Chard	Set out	March 23 – May 5	2 wk before
🌿 Dill	Direct sow	March 30 – May 12	1 wk before
🫘 Bush Beans	Direct sow	April 13 – May 26	1 wk after
🥒 Cucumbers	Set out	April 13 – May 26	1 wk after
🎃 Pumpkins	Direct sow	April 13 – May 26	1 wk after
🎃 Pumpkins	Set out	April 13 – May 26	1 wk after
🎃 Summer Squash	Direct sow	April 13 – May 26	1 wk after
🎃 Summer Squash	Set out	April 13 – May 26	1 wk after
🌽 Sweet Corn	Direct sow	April 13 – May 26	1 wk after
🍅 Tomatoes	Set out	April 13 – May 26	1 wk after
🎃 Winter Squash	Direct sow	April 13 – May 26	1 wk after
🎃 Winter Squash	Set out	April 13 – May 26	1 wk after
🥒 Zucchini	Direct sow	April 13 – May 26	1 wk after
🥒 Zucchini	Set out	April 13 – May 26	1 wk after
🥒 Cucumbers	Direct sow	April 20 – June 2	2 wk after
🌶️ Okra	Direct sow	April 20 – June 2	2 wk after
🌶️ Okra	Set out	April 20 – June 2	2 wk after
🌶️ Peppers	Set out	April 20 – June 2	2 wk after
🫘 Southern Peas	Direct sow	April 20 – June 2	2 wk after
🍠 Sweet Potato	Set out	April 20 – June 2	2 wk after

Offsets are published guidance; the dates they land on are computed from measured NOAA normals. The seed-starting tool does this for your own ZIP code and counts the days.

What survives the winter changes across Klickitat County

Zone 7a carries 58 of 74 perennial edibles; zone 7b carries 56. The best number is not always the warmest zone — the count peaks in the middle and falls both ways, because the warm end loses plants to insufficient winter chill and summer heat, not to cold.

Hardiness ranges are a judgement, published by growers rather than measured; the zone they are compared against is measured. On a warm-end verdict, check with your local extension service — a coastal zone 8 and an inland zone 8 are not the same summer.

Cautious — shortens the seasonMedian across stationsOptimistic

Last spring freeze: Plan to June 12 to be careful. Median April 6 – May 19 across 6 stations; March 22 is the optimistic end.
First fall freeze: Plan to September 4 to be careful. Median September 25 – October 26 across 6 stations; November 10 is the optimistic end.

NOAA publishes these as probabilities, not averages — the middle figure is a median, so half of years fall either side of it. The cautious end is the 10% tail: in roughly nine years in ten the freeze falls on the safe side of it.

The 6 stations behind these numbers

All 6 NOAA stations whose normals this page quotes, spanning about 42 km north to south. Every one is named with its identifier in the station list below — this page does not single one out, because no one station speaks for a whole county.

A relative sketch, not a map with a projection: longitude is adjusted for latitude so the shape is not stretched, and there is no basemap. For the one station nearest a specific address, with its real distance, use the ZIP lookup above.

These are the stations this county's ZIP codes actually cite as nearest — not a claim that each one sits inside its boundary, since a rural ZIP legitimately reaches over it. Every figure above comes from them, and each is named so you can check it.

Station	NOAA ID	Last spring freeze	First fall freeze	Season
Arlington, OR	USC00350265	April 6	October 21	196 days
Bickleton, WA	USC00450668	May 16	October 9	144 days
Goldendale, WA	USC00453222	May 19	September 25	126 days
Mt Adams RS, WA	USC00455659	May 18	September 25	125 days
Snowden, WA	USC00457794	May 12	October 11	149 days
The Dalles Muni AP, WA	USW00024219	April 11	October 26	197 days

These are medians, not averages — NOAA publishes freeze dates as a probability distribution, and half of years freeze later than the date shown.

Your own ZIP

Work out your own dates

This page describes a whole county. Every tool below answers for one ZIP code, which is the grain the underlying data is published at.

Other places to compare

Klickitat County sits in Washington. That page carries the whole state's zone spread, its metro areas, and every other county in it with a page here.

More of Washington

Counties with the same zones — 7a–8a

Matched on the exact zone set, not a dominant zone, so the winter answer on these pages really is the same one as here.

Sierra County, NM — 7a–8a

Gear

If you want to act on this

Each link opens an Amazon search rather than a product we picked. We have not tested these and do not rank them — the search is the honest version, and you choose.

Row cover and frost clothThe season here closes at the first fall freeze dated above — a cover buys back some of those days at the end.
MulchFor the perennials nearest their cold limit in zone 7a, where an insulated crown is what decides whether they come back.

As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. That costs you nothing extra, and it buys no influence over anything on this site: the dates come from NOAA normals and the zones from the USDA, and no product affects either.

Sources

Where these numbers come from

Hardiness zones are the USDA 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map, published per ZIP code by PRISM at Oregon State. Freeze dates and growing-season lengths are NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, taken per station and cited above by name and NOAA ID.

County boundaries come from the Census ZCTA-to-county relation, which is what places each ZIP code — and which treats parishes, boroughs and census areas as county equivalents. No station is chosen to represent this county: every range above is taken across all of them and the count is stated, because picking one would be a judgement dressed as a measurement.