Washington, DC 20537 Frost Dates
Frost dates for Washington, DC, ZIP 20537
Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 03/24, roughly 208 days out. The first fall frost typically arrives around 11/18, about 241 frost-free days later.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Washington in Zone 8a (10 to 15°F average annual minimum); frost dates are NOAA's 1991-2020 station normal, not this year's forecast.
What to do before the first frost
Zone 8a around Washington has about 12 weeks left before the first fall frost — that's the usual window to get a cold frame up if you want to keep harvesting past it.
How much risk comes with planting early here
03/24 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Plant by 03/07 and you're betting against frost in roughly 9 years out of 10. 04/06 is the safer bet, historically only a 1-in-10 chance of frost that late.
How Washington compares
At roughly 241 frost-free days, Washington places 8,458 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within DC, it ranks 39 of 246.
Learn more
the frost range explains how to read the range around Washington's dates instead of trusting one, and local microclimates explains what one yard in Washington can differ from the 20537 normal.