Beaufort, NC 28528 Frost Dates
When can you plant in Beaufort, NC?
Around 03/10 is the usual last spring frost, about 194 days away. The first fall frost typically arrives around 12/01, about 265 frost-free days later.
Zone 9a (20 to 25°F average annual minimum) comes from the USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map; the frost dates above are the 1991-2020 normal at the nearest reporting NOAA station for Beaufort, not a forecast for this year.
What to do before the first frost
About 14 weeks of growing season left in Beaufort before the first fall frost — a cold frame or row cover can stretch harvest weeks past that date.
How much risk comes with planting early here
03/10 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Plant by 02/18 and you're betting against frost in roughly 9 years out of 10. 03/26 is the safer bet, historically only a 1-in-10 chance of frost that late.
How Beaufort compares
At roughly 265 frost-free days, Beaufort places 5,984 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within NC, it ranks 30 of 1,078.
Learn more
zone vs. frost date covers why Zone 9a and Beaufort's frost date answer different questions. the frost range covers how to read the range around Beaufort's dates instead of trusting one.