Raleigh, NC 27636 Frost Dates
27636, near Raleigh, NC: the frost window
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.
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
Raleigh's growing season runs out in roughly 10 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
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 10,519 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within NC, it ranks 260 of 1,078.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 27636: local microclimates, on what one yard in Raleigh can differ from the 27636 normal, and zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 8a and Raleigh's frost date answer different questions.