Spring Lake, NC 28390 Frost Dates
Frost dates for Spring Lake, NC, ZIP 28390
Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 03/30, roughly 214 days out. The first fall frost typically arrives around 11/10, about 227 frost-free days later.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Spring Lake in Zone 8a (10 to 15°F average annual minimum); frost dates are NOAA's 1991-2020 station normal, not this year's forecast.
What to do before the first frost
Zone 8a around Spring Lake has about 11 weeks left before the first fall frost — that's the usual window to get a cold frame up if you want to keep harvesting past it.
Why 03/30 isn't a guarantee
03/30 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Plant by 03/09 and you're betting against frost in roughly 9 years out of 10. 04/16 is the safer bet, historically only a 1-in-10 chance of frost that late.
How Spring Lake compares
At roughly 227 frost-free days, Spring Lake places 10,990 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within NC, it ranks 343 of 1,078.
Learn more
local microclimates explains what one yard in Spring Lake can differ from the 28390 normal, and zone vs. frost date explains why Zone 8a and Spring Lake's frost date answer different questions.