Smithfield, VA 23314 Frost Dates
23314, near Smithfield, VA: the frost window
The last spring frost here typically falls around 04/01, about 216 days from today. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 11/09, roughly 221 days after the last spring frost.
Zone 8b (15 to 20°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 Smithfield, not a forecast for this year.
Stretching the season past the first frost
Smithfield's growing season runs out in roughly 10 weeks — a cold frame or greenhouse kit is the usual way to keep cool-weather crops going past the first frost.
Why 04/01 isn't a guarantee
04/01 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 03/18 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 04/18 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Smithfield against the rest of the dataset
At roughly 221 frost-free days, Smithfield places 12,483 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within VA, it ranks 273 of 1,178.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 23314: zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 8b and Smithfield's frost date answer different questions, and the frost range, on how to read the range around Smithfield's dates instead of trusting one.