Wilmington, NC 28405 Frost Dates
Frost dates for Wilmington, NC, ZIP 28405
Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 03/19, roughly 203 days out. The first fall frost typically arrives around 11/20, about 247 frost-free days later.
Wilmington sits in USDA Zone 8b (15 to 20°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.
What to do before the first frost
Zone 8b around Wilmington has about 12 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.
The actual range around Wilmington's last frost
03/19 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Plant by 02/26 and you're betting against frost in roughly 9 years out of 10. 04/04 is the safer bet, historically only a 1-in-10 chance of frost that late.
How Wilmington compares
Wilmington's growing season runs about 247 days, ranking 7,775 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within NC, it ranks 50 of 1,078.
Learn more
the frost range explains how to read the range around Wilmington's dates instead of trusting one, and local microclimates explains what one yard in Wilmington can differ from the 28405 normal.