La Plata, MD 20646 Frost Dates
La Plata, MD: when does the frost end?
Around 04/17 is the usual last spring frost, about 232 days away. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/27, roughly 195 days after the last spring frost.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts La Plata in Zone 7b (5 to 10°F average annual minimum); frost dates are NOAA's 1991-2020 station normal, not this year's forecast.
Stretching the season past the first frost
With roughly 9 weeks until La Plata's first fall frost, a row cover or cold frame is what stretches the last few weeks of harvest here.
How much risk comes with planting early here
04/17 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 03/31 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/02 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
La Plata against the rest of the dataset
About 195 days separate La Plata's last and first frost, putting it 19,229 of 40,283 ZIP codes nationally. Within MD, it ranks 503 of 583.
Learn more
Before leaning on 20646's figures: the frost range explains how to read the range around La Plata's dates instead of trusting one, while local microclimates explains what one yard in La Plata can differ from the 20646 normal.