Norfolk, VA 23514 Frost Dates
23514, near Norfolk, VA: the frost window
Around 03/16 is the usual last spring frost, about 200 days away. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 11/26, roughly 255 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 Norfolk, not a forecast for this year.
Stretching the season past the first frost
Norfolk's growing season runs out in roughly 13 weeks — a cold frame or greenhouse kit is the usual way to keep cool-weather crops going past the first frost.
Why 03/16 isn't a guarantee
03/16 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 02/26 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 04/01 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Norfolk against the rest of the dataset
Norfolk's growing season runs about 255 days, ranking 6,861 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within VA, it ranks 5 of 1,178.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 23514: the frost range, on how to read the range around Norfolk's dates instead of trusting one, and local microclimates, on what one yard in Norfolk can differ from the 23514 normal.