Rockingham, NC 28379 Frost Dates
Rockingham, NC: when does the frost end?
Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 03/30, roughly 214 days out. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 11/04, roughly 220 days after the last spring frost.
Rockingham 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 Rockingham'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
03/30 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 03/14 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 04/15 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Rockingham against the rest of the dataset
Rockingham's growing season runs about 220 days, ranking 12,779 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within NC, it ranks 574 of 1,078.
Learn more
Before leaning on 28379's figures: local microclimates explains what one yard in Rockingham can differ from the 28379 normal, while zone vs. frost date explains why Zone 8a and Rockingham's frost date answer different questions.