Elkton, VA 22827 Frost Dates
22827, near Elkton, VA: the frost window
Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 04/21, roughly 236 days out. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/23, roughly 182 days after the last spring frost.
Zone 7a (0 to 5°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 Elkton, not a forecast for this year.
Stretching the season past the first frost
Elkton's growing season runs out in roughly 8 weeks — a cold frame or greenhouse kit is the usual way to keep cool-weather crops going past the first frost.
How much risk comes with planting early here
04/21 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/09 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/07 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Elkton against the rest of the dataset
About 182 days separate Elkton's last and first frost, putting it 24,166 of 40,283 ZIP codes nationally. Within VA, it ranks 988 of 1,178.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 22827: the frost range, on how to read the range around Elkton's dates instead of trusting one, and local microclimates, on what one yard in Elkton can differ from the 22827 normal.