Gainesville, FL 32602 Frost Dates
Frost dates for Gainesville, FL, ZIP 32602
The last spring frost here typically falls around 03/04, about 188 days from today. The first fall frost typically arrives around 12/04, about 274 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 Gainesville, not a forecast for this year.
What to do before the first frost
Zone 9a around Gainesville has about 14 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.
Why 03/04 isn't a guarantee
03/04 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Plant by 02/03 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 Gainesville compares
About 274 days separate Gainesville's last and first frost, putting it 5,135 of 40,283 ZIP codes nationally. Within FL, it ranks 1,479 of 1,609.
Learn more
the frost range explains how to read the range around Gainesville's dates instead of trusting one, and local microclimates explains what one yard in Gainesville can differ from the 32602 normal.