Winston-Salem, NC 27104 Frost Dates
Frost dates for Winston-Salem, NC, ZIP 27104
Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 04/09, roughly 224 days out. The first fall frost typically arrives around 10/31, about 204 frost-free days later.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Winston-Salem in Zone 8a (10 to 15°F average annual minimum); frost dates are NOAA's 1991-2020 station normal, not this year's forecast.
What to do before the first frost
Zone 8a around Winston-Salem has about 9 weeks left before the first fall frost — that's the usual window to get a cold frame up if you want to keep harvesting past it.
How much risk comes with planting early here
04/09 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Plant by 03/25 and you're betting against frost in roughly 9 years out of 10. 04/23 is the safer bet, historically only a 1-in-10 chance of frost that late.
How Winston-Salem compares
At roughly 204 frost-free days, Winston-Salem places 16,439 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within NC, it ranks 831 of 1,078.
Learn more
local microclimates explains what one yard in Winston-Salem can differ from the 27104 normal, and zone vs. frost date explains why Zone 8a and Winston-Salem's frost date answer different questions.