Frost dates for Shelby 2 Nw, North Carolina
Half of years have their last spring frost by April 12 — but 1 year in 10 still frosts after April 28.
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
Last spring frost
- Frost this late in 1 year in 10
- April 28
- 1 year in 5
- April 22
- 3 years in 10
- April 19
- 2 years in 5
- April 15
- Half of years (the median)
- April 12
First fall freeze
- Freeze this early in 1 year in 10
- October 12
- 1 year in 5
- October 16
- 3 years in 10
- October 19
- 2 years in 5
- October 22
- Half of years (the median)
- October 25
- Growing season
- about 195 days
- Hardiness zones nearby
- 7b, 8a
Where these numbers come from
NOAA NCEI 1991–2020 Climate Normals, station Shelby 2 Nw (USC00317845), at 35.31, -81.57. 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
28017, 28018, 28019, 28021, 28040, 28043, 28073, 28076, 28086, 28089, 28090, 28114, 28150, 28152, 28160, 28169, 29307, 29324, 29329, 29330, 29340, 29341, 29368, 29702.
What can I plant here, and when? →
Nearby stations
The nearest stations, and how their last-frost dates compare — the frost gradient across your area, which no single station shows.
- Charlotte Douglas Ap, NC — last frost by March 30
- Tryon, NC — last frost by March 27
- Fountain Inn 2 Sw, SC — last frost by March 29
- Salisbury 9 Wnw, NC — last frost by April 9
- Boone 1 Se, NC — last frost by May 2
- Elizabethton, TN — last frost by April 19
Other stations in North Carolina.
- Rural Hall, NC — last frost by April 6
- Cary, NC — last frost by March 31