Stem, NC 27581 Frost Dates
Stem, NC: when does the frost end?
The last spring frost here typically falls around 03/30, about 214 days from today. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 11/06, roughly 222 days after the last spring frost.
Stem sits in USDA Zone 8a (10 to 15°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
With roughly 10 weeks until Stem's first fall frost, a row cover or cold frame is what stretches the last few weeks of harvest here.
Why 03/30 isn't a guarantee
03/30 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 03/16 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 04/14 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Stem against the rest of the dataset
At roughly 222 frost-free days, Stem places 12,287 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within NC, it ranks 459 of 1,078.
Learn more
Before leaning on 27581's figures: zone vs. frost date explains why Zone 8a and Stem's frost date answer different questions, while the frost range explains how to read the range around Stem's dates instead of trusting one.