Duck, NC 27966 Frost Dates
When can you plant in Duck, NC?
Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 03/15, roughly 199 days out. The first fall frost typically arrives around 12/06, about 266 frost-free days later.
Zone 9a (20 to 25°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 Duck, not a forecast for this year.
What to do before the first frost
About 14 weeks of growing season left in Duck before the first fall frost — a cold frame or row cover can stretch harvest weeks past that date.
Why 03/15 isn't a guarantee
03/15 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Plant by 02/23 and you're betting against frost in roughly 9 years out of 10. 03/30 is the safer bet, historically only a 1-in-10 chance of frost that late.
How Duck compares
At roughly 266 frost-free days, Duck places 5,945 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within NC, it ranks 27 of 1,078.
Learn more
local microclimates covers what one yard in Duck can differ from the 27966 normal. zone vs. frost date covers why Zone 9a and Duck's frost date answer different questions.