Milpa Gardens

Frost dates for New Orleans Lakefront Ap, Louisiana

Half of years have their last spring frost by January 22 — but 1 year in 10 still frosts after February 23.

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

Frost this late in 1 year in 10
February 23
1 year in 5
February 9
3 years in 10
February 1
2 years in 5
January 27
Half of years (the median)
January 22
First fall freeze, typical year
January 5
Growing season
about 348 days
Hardiness zone nearby
9b

Where these numbers come from

NOAA NCEI 1991–2020 Climate Normals, station New Orleans Lakefront Ap (USW00053917), at 30.05, -90.03. 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

70001, 70002, 70003, 70005, 70006, 70032, 70043, 70062, 70065, 70112, 70113, 70114, 70116, 70117, 70118, 70119, 70121, 70122, 70124, 70125, 70126, 70127, 70128, 70130, 70139, 70163.

What can I plant here, and when? →

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