Durham, NC 27709 Frost Dates
Durham, NC: when does the frost end?
The last spring frost here typically falls around 04/02, about 217 days from today. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 11/04, roughly 217 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 Durham, not a forecast for this year.
Stretching the season past the first frost
With roughly 10 weeks until Durham's first fall frost, a row cover or cold frame is what stretches the last few weeks of harvest here.
How much risk comes with planting early here
04/02 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 04/18 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Durham against the rest of the dataset
At roughly 217 frost-free days, Durham places 13,382 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within NC, it ranks 657 of 1,078.
Learn more
Before leaning on 27709's figures: local microclimates explains what one yard in Durham can differ from the 27709 normal, while zone vs. frost date explains why Zone 8a and Durham's frost date answer different questions.