Lowell, NC 28098 Frost Dates
28098, near Lowell, NC: the frost window
The last spring frost here typically falls around 03/27, about 211 days from today. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 11/09, roughly 228 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 Lowell, not a forecast for this year.
Stretching the season past the first frost
Lowell'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
03/27 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 03/09 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 04/09 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Lowell against the rest of the dataset
At roughly 228 frost-free days, Lowell places 10,812 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within NC, it ranks 294 of 1,078.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 28098: the frost range, on how to read the range around Lowell's dates instead of trusting one, and local microclimates, on what one yard in Lowell can differ from the 28098 normal.