Amherst, VA 24521 Frost Dates
24521, near Amherst, 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 10/25, roughly 193 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 Amherst, not a forecast for this year.
Stretching the season past the first frost
Amherst'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
04/15 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 03/31 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/04 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Amherst against the rest of the dataset
At roughly 193 frost-free days, Amherst places 19,949 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within VA, it ranks 777 of 1,178.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 24521: the frost range, on how to read the range around Amherst's dates instead of trusting one, and local microclimates, on what one yard in Amherst can differ from the 24521 normal.