Raleigh, NC 27623 Frost Dates
Raleigh, NC: when does the frost end?
Around 03/28 is the usual last spring frost, about 212 days away. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 11/08, roughly 229 days after the last spring frost.
Zone 8a (10 to 15°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 Raleigh, not a forecast for this year.
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.
Why 03/28 isn't a guarantee
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
Raleigh's growing season runs about 229 days, ranking 10,511 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within NC, it ranks 252 of 1,078.
Learn more
Before leaning on 27623's figures: local microclimates explains what one yard in Raleigh can differ from the 27623 normal, while zone vs. frost date explains why Zone 8a and Raleigh's frost date answer different questions.