Port Royal, VA 22436 Frost Dates
22436, near Port Royal, VA: the frost window
Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 04/08, roughly 223 days out. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/30, roughly 204 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 Port Royal, not a forecast for this year.
Stretching the season past the first frost
Port Royal'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 04/08 isn't a guarantee
04/08 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 03/26 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 04/23 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Port Royal against the rest of the dataset
About 204 days separate Port Royal's last and first frost, putting it 16,772 of 40,283 ZIP codes nationally. Within VA, it ranks 560 of 1,178.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 22436: zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 7b and Port Royal's frost date answer different questions, and the frost range, on how to read the range around Port Royal's dates instead of trusting one.