Gainesville, GA 30501 Frost Dates
Frost dates for Gainesville, GA, ZIP 30501
The last spring frost here typically falls around 03/27, about 211 days from today. The first fall frost typically arrives around 11/12, about 231 frost-free days later.
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 Gainesville, not a forecast for this year.
What to do before the first frost
Zone 8a around Gainesville 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.
How much risk comes with planting early here
03/27 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Plant by 03/06 and you're betting against frost in roughly 9 years out of 10. 04/11 is the safer bet, historically only a 1-in-10 chance of frost that late.
How Gainesville compares
Gainesville's growing season runs about 231 days, ranking 10,131 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within GA, it ranks 538 of 921.
Learn more
zone vs. frost date explains why Zone 8a and Gainesville's frost date answer different questions, and the frost range explains how to read the range around Gainesville's dates instead of trusting one.