Chatham, VA 24527 Frost Dates
24527, near Chatham, VA: the frost window
Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 04/22, roughly 237 days out. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/23, roughly 183 days after the last spring frost.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Chatham in Zone 7b (5 to 10°F average annual minimum); frost dates are NOAA's 1991-2020 station normal, not this year's forecast.
Stretching the season past the first frost
Chatham'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.
The actual range around Chatham's last frost
04/22 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/07 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/09 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Chatham against the rest of the dataset
Chatham's growing season runs about 183 days, ranking 23,909 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within VA, it ranks 962 of 1,178.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 24527: zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 7b and Chatham's frost date answer different questions, and the frost range, on how to read the range around Chatham's dates instead of trusting one.