Wheeling, WV 26003 Frost Dates
26003, near Wheeling, WV: the frost window
The last spring frost here typically falls around 04/20, about 235 days from today. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/29, roughly 192 days after the last spring frost.
Wheeling sits in USDA Zone 6b (-5 to 0°F average annual minimum). The dates above are NOAA's 1991-2020 normal at the nearest reporting station, a 30-year average, not a forecast.
Stretching the season past the first frost
Wheeling'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 04/20 isn't a guarantee
04/20 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/05 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.
Wheeling against the rest of the dataset
Wheeling's growing season runs about 192 days, ranking 20,187 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within WV, it ranks 243 of 885.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 26003: zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 6b and Wheeling's frost date answer different questions, and the frost range, on how to read the range around Wheeling's dates instead of trusting one.