Willapa, Washington, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
Crops well matched to these conditions include kale, potato, garlic, and western red cedar — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Willapa, 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 Willapa 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 Willapa — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Willapa — the short answer
Willapa, Washington: USDA zone 8b, about 207 days between hard freezes, across 178 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 5
- Pacific County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 29
- Pacific County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~207
- Pacific County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 178 acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. No 30-year normal resolves at this town’s own centroid, so the hard-freeze dates are Pacific County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8b is Willapa's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Willapa's 207-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Willapa
Each reading below is measured for Willapa itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsWillapa runs about 207 days between hard freezes (read from Pacific County, the closest normal to Willapa) — a long growing season.
There is slack for succession plantings and slow-finishing crops: many vegetables can be sown twice, and the heat-lovers have time to ripen fully.
Plan a second sowing of quick crops after the first comes out, and use the fall window most gardeners let sit idle.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredWillapa sits in USDA hardiness zone 8b.
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 Willapa is in
Willapa sits in the Coast Range — EPA Level III, inside the wider Marine West Coast Forest. That is read at Willapa's own centroid rather than borrowed from Pacific County.
What Grows in Willapa
Plants matched to Willapa's USDA zones 8b, ordered by how much hardiness margin each has here — the ones with room to spare at both ends of this town's band lead. Each links to its full growing profile.
Is it too late to plant in Willapa?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 8; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 5 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 29 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Here the season winds down slowly: late sowings, a real autumn harvest, and garlic in the ground before the first hard freeze.
What's on the federal record near Willapa
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Willapa. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- CITY WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANTUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- GALEY'S GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.5 mi
- RAYMOND SCHOOL DISTRICT 116Underground Storage Tanks · 3.0 mi
- RAYMOND QUICK STOP 101 CHEVRONUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.1 mi
- PEHL OIL COMPANYUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.2 mi
- DENNIS CO PREMIYUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.2 mi
- WA AGR PACIFIC 2Brownfields · 3.2 mi
- UNOCAL 6298Underground Storage Tanks · 3.2 mi
- CHEVRON 95454Underground Storage Tanks · 3.2 mi
- RAYMOND HEADQUARTERS AREA 3 SITEUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.2 mi
- DICKS FOOD CENTERUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.2 mi
- RAYMOND OPERATIONS SHOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.3 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Willapa'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 Willapa.
Total Sites
43
within ~10 miles of Willapa
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
2 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Willapa
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Willapa
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Willapa, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 39 sites within ~10 miles of Willapa. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Willapa
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 Willapa average
Your land is one point inside Willapa
Everything above resolves to Willapa as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 178 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Pacific County’s record because no 30-year normal resolves at this town’s own centroid. 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 Willapa Average
Willapa Average
- ●USDA Zones 8b, averaged across Willapa
- ●One soil character for all of Willapa
- ●Frost dates read at Willapa's scale: Apr 5 to Oct 29
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Willapa's 8b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Willapa
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Willapa, Washington — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Willapa averages can't show:
We read public map data around Willapa — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Willapa average
How we know this about Willapa
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 Pacific County’s record, because none resolves here; 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 Willapa
When does frost risk typically end in Willapa?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Willapa typically lands around Apr 5, 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 Apr 26.
When is the first frost in Willapa?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Willapa typically arrives around Oct 29, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 15, so the watching starts about Sep 29 — about 207 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Willapa?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Willapa sees about 207 frost-free days — roughly Apr 5 through Oct 29, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 26 to Oct 15, about 172 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Willapa?
The federal record around Willapa is light — 43 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (39), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.9 miles out — and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. Growing food here starts from a strong position; a soil test before new food beds settles any site-specific question.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Willapa?
From about Sep 29 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 29 (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 29. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Willapa's scale — its 8b band and its 207-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Willapa'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 Willapa’s own scale
4 of the readings below were taken at Willapa's own scale — the 178 acres it covers and 43 documented sites around it; 6 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Willapa's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 43 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Willapa, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.9 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Willapa's boundary and the 178 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- The ecoregion at Willapa's own centroid, the Coast RangeUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Willapa has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Pacific County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Willapa's 178 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Pacific County
- The candidate plant list — Washington's curated set, filtered to this zone band and re-ordered by how much margin each has herefrom Washington
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Pacific County
- The growing challenges every Washington grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Washington
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Pacific County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Willapa's 178 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Willapa you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 178 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.9 miles 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 Willapa-wide figureread your own land →
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