Elizabeth, WV 26143 Frost Dates
26143, near Elizabeth, WV: the frost window
Around 05/01 is the usual last spring frost, about 246 days away. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/14, roughly 165 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 Elizabeth, not a forecast for this year.
Stretching the season past the first frost
Elizabeth'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.
How much risk comes with planting early here
05/01 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/18 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/19 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Elizabeth against the rest of the dataset
Elizabeth's growing season runs about 165 days, ranking 30,674 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within WV, it ranks 737 of 885.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 26143: local microclimates, on what one yard in Elizabeth can differ from the 26143 normal, and zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 6b and Elizabeth's frost date answer different questions.