Milpa Gardens

Frost dates for Rural Hall, North Carolina

Half of years have their last spring frost by April 6 — but 1 year in 10 still frosts after April 21.

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
April 21
1 year in 5
April 16
3 years in 10
April 12
2 years in 5
April 8
Half of years (the median)
April 6
First fall freeze, typical year
October 31
Growing season
about 209 days
Hardiness zones nearby
7b, 8a

Where these numbers come from

NOAA NCEI 1991–2020 Climate Normals, station Rural Hall (USC00317548), at 36.23, -80.31. 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

27009, 27018, 27019, 27021, 27023, 27040, 27041, 27042, 27043, 27045, 27047, 27050, 27051, 27052, 27101, 27103, 27104, 27105, 27106, 27109, 27110, 27235, 27284, 27310.

What can I plant here, and when? →

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