Staunton, VA 24402 Frost Dates
24402, near Staunton, VA: the frost window
The last spring frost here typically falls around 04/15, about 230 days from today. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/27, roughly 191 days after the last spring frost.
Zone 7a (0 to 5°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 Staunton, not a forecast for this year.
Stretching the season past the first frost
Staunton'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 04/15 isn't a guarantee
04/15 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/01 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/06 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Staunton against the rest of the dataset
At roughly 191 frost-free days, Staunton places 20,707 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within VA, it ranks 816 of 1,178.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 24402: local microclimates, on what one yard in Staunton can differ from the 24402 normal, and zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 7a and Staunton's frost date answer different questions.