Roanoke, VA 24014 Frost Dates
24014, near Roanoke, VA: the frost window
The last spring frost here typically falls around 04/03, about 218 days from today. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 11/01, roughly 210 days after the last spring frost.
Zone 7b (5 to 10°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 Roanoke, not a forecast for this year.
Stretching the season past the first frost
Roanoke's growing season runs out in roughly 9 weeks — a cold frame or greenhouse kit is the usual way to keep cool-weather crops going past the first frost.
Why 04/03 isn't a guarantee
04/03 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 03/19 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.
Roanoke against the rest of the dataset
About 210 days separate Roanoke's last and first frost, putting it 14,941 of 40,283 ZIP codes nationally. Within VA, it ranks 400 of 1,178.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 24014: local microclimates, on what one yard in Roanoke can differ from the 24014 normal, and zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 7b and Roanoke's frost date answer different questions.