Raleigh, NC 27609 Frost Dates
Raleigh, NC: when does the frost end?
Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 03/28, roughly 212 days out. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 11/08, roughly 229 days after the last spring frost.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Raleigh in Zone 8a (10 to 15°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
With roughly 10 weeks until Raleigh's first fall frost, a row cover or cold frame is what stretches the last few weeks of harvest here.
The actual range around Raleigh's last frost
03/28 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 03/08 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 04/12 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Raleigh against the rest of the dataset
About 229 days separate Raleigh's last and first frost, putting it 10,504 of 40,283 ZIP codes nationally. Within NC, it ranks 245 of 1,078.
Learn more
Before leaning on 27609's figures: the frost range explains how to read the range around Raleigh's dates instead of trusting one, while local microclimates explains what one yard in Raleigh can differ from the 27609 normal.