Wilmington, NC 28409 Frost Dates
Frost dates for Wilmington, NC, ZIP 28409
Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 03/20, roughly 204 days out. The first fall frost typically arrives around 11/15, about 241 frost-free days later.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Wilmington in Zone 8b (15 to 20°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 8b around Wilmington 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.
The actual range around Wilmington's last frost
03/20 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Plant by 02/28 and you're betting against frost in roughly 9 years out of 10. 04/08 is the safer bet, historically only a 1-in-10 chance of frost that late.
How Wilmington compares
About 241 days separate Wilmington's last and first frost, putting it 8,496 of 40,283 ZIP codes nationally. Within NC, it ranks 65 of 1,078.
Learn more
local microclimates explains what one yard in Wilmington can differ from the 28409 normal, and zone vs. frost date explains why Zone 8b and Wilmington's frost date answer different questions.