Norfolk, VA 23518 Frost Dates
23518, near Norfolk, VA: the frost window
Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 03/17, roughly 201 days out. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 11/23, roughly 252 days after the last spring frost.
Norfolk sits in USDA Zone 8b (15 to 20°F average annual minimum). The dates above are NOAA's 1991-2020 normal at the nearest reporting station, a 30-year average, not a forecast.
Stretching the season past the first frost
Norfolk's growing season runs out in roughly 12 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
03/17 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 02/27 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 03/31 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Norfolk against the rest of the dataset
About 252 days separate Norfolk's last and first frost, putting it 7,199 of 40,283 ZIP codes nationally. Within VA, it ranks 17 of 1,178.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 23518: local microclimates, on what one yard in Norfolk can differ from the 23518 normal, and zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 8b and Norfolk's frost date answer different questions.