Clifton Forge, VA 24412 Frost Dates
24412, near Clifton Forge, VA: the frost window
Around 04/22 is the usual last spring frost, about 237 days away. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/21, roughly 181 days after the last spring frost.
Zone 6b (-5 to 0°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 Clifton Forge, not a forecast for this year.
Stretching the season past the first frost
Clifton Forge's growing season runs out in roughly 8 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
04/22 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/08 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/10 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Clifton Forge against the rest of the dataset
About 181 days separate Clifton Forge's last and first frost, putting it 24,536 of 40,283 ZIP codes nationally. Within VA, it ranks 1,004 of 1,178.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 24412: local microclimates, on what one yard in Clifton Forge can differ from the 24412 normal, and zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 6b and Clifton Forge's frost date answer different questions.