Durham, NC 27703 Frost Dates
27703, near Durham, NC: the frost window
The last spring frost here typically falls around 03/31, about 215 days from today. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 11/04, roughly 219 days after the last spring frost.
Durham 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
Durham'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.
Why 03/31 isn't a guarantee
03/31 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 03/15 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 04/16 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Durham against the rest of the dataset
Durham's growing season runs about 219 days, ranking 12,918 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within NC, it ranks 603 of 1,078.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 27703: local microclimates, on what one yard in Durham can differ from the 27703 normal, and zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 8a and Durham's frost date answer different questions.