FrostDateCheck

Bancroft, WV 25109 Frost Dates

25109, near Bancroft, WV: the frost window

Zone 7a

Around 04/29 is the usual last spring frost, about 244 days away. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/16, roughly 169 days after the last spring frost.

The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Bancroft in Zone 7a (0 to 5°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

Bancroft's growing season runs out in roughly 7 weeks — a cold frame or greenhouse kit is the usual way to keep cool-weather crops going past the first frost.

Why 04/29 isn't a guarantee

04/29 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/15 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/15 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.

Bancroft against the rest of the dataset

About 169 days separate Bancroft's last and first frost, putting it 29,584 of 40,283 ZIP codes nationally. Within WV, it ranks 714 of 885.

Learn more

Two guides worth reading on 25109: the frost range, on how to read the range around Bancroft's dates instead of trusting one, and local microclimates, on what one yard in Bancroft can differ from the 25109 normal.