Tar Heel, NC 28392 Frost Dates
28392, near Tar Heel, NC: the frost window
Around 03/29 is the usual last spring frost, about 213 days away. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 11/08, roughly 226 days after the last spring frost.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Tar Heel 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
Tar Heel'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
03/29 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 03/08 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 04/13 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Tar Heel against the rest of the dataset
Tar Heel's growing season runs about 226 days, ranking 11,325 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within NC, it ranks 411 of 1,078.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 28392: zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 8b and Tar Heel's frost date answer different questions, and the frost range, on how to read the range around Tar Heel's dates instead of trusting one.