Richmond, VA 23255 Frost Dates
Frost dates for Richmond, VA, ZIP 23255
Around 04/03 is the usual last spring frost, about 218 days away. The first fall frost typically arrives around 11/04, about 215 frost-free days later.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Richmond in Zone 7b (5 to 10°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 7b around Richmond has about 10 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
04/03 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Plant by 03/19 and you're betting against frost in roughly 9 years out of 10. 04/18 is the safer bet, historically only a 1-in-10 chance of frost that late.
How Richmond compares
At roughly 215 frost-free days, Richmond places 13,971 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within VA, it ranks 362 of 1,178.
Learn more
zone vs. frost date explains why Zone 7b and Richmond's frost date answer different questions, and the frost range explains how to read the range around Richmond's dates instead of trusting one.