Charlotte, NC 28242 Frost Dates
Charlotte, NC: when does the frost end?
Around 03/30 is the usual last spring frost, about 214 days away. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 11/03, roughly 221 days after the last spring frost.
Charlotte 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
With roughly 10 weeks until Charlotte's first fall frost, a row cover or cold frame is what stretches the last few weeks of harvest here.
Why 03/30 isn't a guarantee
03/30 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 03/12 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 04/14 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Charlotte against the rest of the dataset
About 221 days separate Charlotte's last and first frost, putting it 12,399 of 40,283 ZIP codes nationally. Within NC, it ranks 497 of 1,078.
Learn more
Before leaning on 28242's figures: zone vs. frost date explains why Zone 8a and Charlotte's frost date answer different questions, while the frost range explains how to read the range around Charlotte's dates instead of trusting one.