Smithville, GA 31787 Frost Dates
31787, near Smithville, GA: the frost window
Around 03/12 is the usual last spring frost, about 196 days away. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 11/19, roughly 253 days after the last spring frost.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Smithville in Zone 8b (15 to 20°F average annual minimum); frost dates are NOAA's 1991-2020 station normal, not this year's forecast.
Stretching the season past the first frost
Smithville's growing season runs out in roughly 12 weeks — a cold frame or greenhouse kit is the usual way to keep cool-weather crops going past the first frost.
Why 03/12 isn't a guarantee
03/12 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 02/18 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 03/30 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Smithville against the rest of the dataset
At roughly 253 frost-free days, Smithville places 7,176 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within GA, it ranks 234 of 921.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 31787: local microclimates, on what one yard in Smithville can differ from the 31787 normal, and zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 8b and Smithville's frost date answer different questions.