Fairfax, VA 22038 Frost Dates
22038, near Fairfax, VA: the frost window
Around 04/14 is the usual last spring frost, about 229 days away. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/29, roughly 198 days after the last spring frost.
Zone 7b (5 to 10°F average annual minimum) comes from the USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map; the frost dates above are the 1991-2020 normal at the nearest reporting NOAA station for Fairfax, not a forecast for this year.
Stretching the season past the first frost
Fairfax's growing season runs out in roughly 9 weeks — a cold frame or greenhouse kit is the usual way to keep cool-weather crops going past the first frost.
Why 04/14 isn't a guarantee
04/14 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 03/30 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 04/28 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Fairfax against the rest of the dataset
Fairfax's growing season runs about 198 days, ranking 18,328 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within VA, it ranks 668 of 1,178.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 22038: local microclimates, on what one yard in Fairfax can differ from the 22038 normal, and zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 7b and Fairfax's frost date answer different questions.