Meyersdale, Pennsylvania, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
On paper, cabbage, blackberry, california poppy, and collard greens all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Even in Meyersdale, no two yards are alike.
A low spot, a south-facing slope, or a stand of trees moves the frost date and sun across a single Meyersdale lot. Enter your address and we'll score 1,086 plants against your land's actual soil, sun, and frost.
We read public map data around Meyersdale — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Meyersdale — the short answer
Meyersdale, Pennsylvania: USDA zone 6a, about 165 days between hard freezes, across 522 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 2
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 14
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~165
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 522 acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. Hard-freeze dates are this town’s own 28°F normals: light frosts run a few weeks past them, and tender transplants usually wait 2–3 weeks after the last hard freeze.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 6a is Meyersdale's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Meyersdale's 165-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Meyersdale
Each reading below is measured for Meyersdale itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredMeyersdale runs about 165 days between hard freezes — a moderate growing season.
There is room for the full run of cool-season crops plus a warm-season main crop, but the calendar is tight enough that a late spring or early fall frost still decides how much finishes.
Time warm-season transplants to your last hard freeze, and a few weeks of season extension turns a near-miss harvest into a sure one.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredMeyersdale sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a.
The zone sets which perennials, shrubs, and fruit trees live through an average winter here — a plant rated for a colder zone is a safe bet, one rated warmer needs winter protection or gets treated as an annual.
Match perennials and fruit to the zone before you buy, so nothing you plant is a gamble against the cold.
USDA PHZM 2023
The kind of country Meyersdale is in
Meyersdale sits in the Central Appalachians — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Meyersdale's own centroid rather than borrowed from Somerset County.
What Grows in Meyersdale
Every plant below cleared Meyersdale's own zone 6a and its 165-day season. Each card opens that plant's Pennsylvania profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Meyersdale?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 4; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 2 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 14 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. The tail of the season still works: sixty-day crops into late summer, quick greens after, garlic last of all.
Documented around Meyersdale
Spotted lanternfly documented 2 miles from Meyersdale, first recorded 2023. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Meyersdale
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Meyersdale. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- FAY V & BARBARA L KLINKUnderground Storage Tanks · 200 ft
- SO 61Nitrate · 350 ft
- WTPUnderground Storage Tanks · 450 ft
- PAUL J YODERUnderground Storage Tanks · 450 ft
- MARK MAUST GARAGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 450 ft
- MEYERSDALE AUTO CTRUnderground Storage Tanks · 500 ft
- LISHIAS GAS STAUnderground Storage Tanks · 500 ft
- SHEETZ STORE NO 89Brownfields · 550 ft
- SHEETZ 89Underground Storage Tanks · 550 ft
- SHEETZ 89 REBUILDUnderground Storage Tanks · 550 ft
- FAMILY DOLLAR STORE NO 7691Brownfields · 600 ft
- BAKER CHEVROLET COUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Meyersdale's center, not your beds. Run your own address for what's upwind of you specifically.
Environmental Intelligence
The counts behind that headline — every source type on the record near Meyersdale.
Total Sites
152
within ~10 miles of Meyersdale
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
9 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Meyersdale
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Meyersdale
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Meyersdale, CAFO runs higher than the national average — 5 sites within ~10 miles of Meyersdale. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
CAFO: CAFOs pose a different contamination profile than chemical sources.
Wash all produce consumed raw thoroughly, especially leafy greens grown near CAFOs.
Check your specific parcel in Meyersdale
Get exact proximity distances to contamination sources for your specific parcel — plus soil, sun, drainage, and 1,086 plant recommendations.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Meyersdale average
Your land is one point inside Meyersdale
Everything above resolves to Meyersdale as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 522 acres. Your parcel is one point inside that footprint. Slope, tree cover, a low spot that pools cold air, and what is in the soil are all resolved at the address, and none of them are visible at town scale. That is the honest boundary of this page, and the reason the next step is a reading of your own ground rather than a better local average.
Your Lot vs the Meyersdale Average
Meyersdale Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Meyersdale
- ●One soil character for all of Meyersdale
- ●Frost dates read at Meyersdale's scale: May 2 to Oct 14
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Meyersdale's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Meyersdale
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Meyersdale, Pennsylvania — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Meyersdale averages can't show:
We read public map data around Meyersdale — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Meyersdale average
How we know this about Meyersdale
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this town’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Meyersdale’s own record; boundaries and acreage from US Census TIGER/Line 2025; the contamination records from the federal sources named in their beats above. Soil is not read at town grain anywhere on this page — there is no town-resolution survey in our data, which is why you will find no soil grid here rather than a statewide one wearing a local label. The resolution ledger below names every figure this page inherited.
Common questions about Meyersdale
When does frost risk typically end in Meyersdale?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Meyersdale typically lands around May 2, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — earlier than the light-frost dates most charts quote. That marks the hard freeze, not the last light frost — lighter frosts keep biting past it, which is why tender transplants here wait until about May 23.
When is the first frost in Meyersdale?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Meyersdale typically arrives around Oct 14, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 30, so the watching starts about Sep 14 — about 165 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Meyersdale?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Meyersdale sees about 165 frost-free days — roughly May 2 through Oct 14, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 23 to Sep 30, about 130 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Meyersdale?
The federal record around Meyersdale shows 152 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (81), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out — a typical footprint for a growing area, and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. It's worth seeing which recorded sites sit closest to where you grow, and testing the soil before new food beds near any of them.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Meyersdale?
From about Sep 14 the job here turns from planting to protecting — the last start even a 30-day crop can finish. As the season closes around the first 28°F hard freeze near Oct 14 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals), three moves buy time: row cover or an old sheet over tender plants on still, clear nights; water the soil the afternoon before a freeze, so it holds warmth overnight; and harvest tomatoes, peppers and basil before Oct 14. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Meyersdale's scale — its 6a band and its 165-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Meyersdale's numbers: we read soil, sun, drainage and frost at your exact address. Try it for 14 days — no card required.
What this page reads at Meyersdale’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Meyersdale's own scale — its own ~165-day season between 28°F freezes, the 522 acres it covers and 152 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Meyersdale's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Meyersdale's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 2 and Oct 14 and the ~165-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 152 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Meyersdale, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Meyersdale's boundary and the 522 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~165-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Meyersdale's own centroid, the Central AppalachiansUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Meyersdalelydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Meyersdale's 522 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Somerset County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Somerset County
- The growing challenges every Pennsylvania grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Pennsylvania
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Somerset County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Meyersdale's 522 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Meyersdale you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 522 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out, measured from the town centrehow we read the record →
- Where cold air settles, which slopes face the sun, and which way the wind runs on your own ground — measured at your address, and averaged away by any Meyersdale-wide figureread your own land →