Hodges, SC 29653 Frost Dates
29653, near Hodges, SC: the frost window
The last spring frost here typically falls around 04/01, about 216 days from today. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 11/02, roughly 216 days after the last spring frost.
Zone 8a (10 to 15°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 Hodges, not a forecast for this year.
Stretching the season past the first frost
Hodges's growing season runs out in roughly 9 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
04/01 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 03/14 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 04/18 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Hodges against the rest of the dataset
At roughly 216 frost-free days, Hodges places 13,923 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within SC, it ranks 457 of 519.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 29653: local microclimates, on what one yard in Hodges can differ from the 29653 normal, and zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 8a and Hodges's frost date answer different questions.