Elizabeth City, NC 27973 Frost Dates
27973, near Elizabeth City, NC: the frost window
Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 03/27, roughly 211 days out. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 11/17, roughly 238 days after the last spring frost.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Elizabeth City in Zone 8b (15 to 20°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
Elizabeth City's growing season runs out in roughly 12 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
03/27 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 03/07 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.
Elizabeth City against the rest of the dataset
About 238 days separate Elizabeth City's last and first frost, putting it 8,954 of 40,283 ZIP codes nationally. Within NC, it ranks 106 of 1,078.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 27973: zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 8b and Elizabeth City's frost date answer different questions, and the frost range, on how to read the range around Elizabeth City's dates instead of trusting one.