FrostDateCheck

Gainesville, FL 32610 Frost Dates

Gainesville, FL: when does the frost end?

Zone 9a

The last spring frost here typically falls around 03/03, about 187 days from today. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 12/02, roughly 277 days after the last spring frost.

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.

Stretching the season past the first frost

With roughly 14 weeks until Gainesville's first fall frost, a row cover or cold frame is what stretches the last few weeks of harvest here.

Why 03/03 isn't a guarantee

03/03 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 02/01 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 03/23 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.

Gainesville against the rest of the dataset

Gainesville's growing season runs about 277 days, ranking 4,950 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within FL, it ranks 1,444 of 1,609.

Learn more

Before leaning on 32610's figures: the frost range explains how to read the range around Gainesville's dates instead of trusting one, while local microclimates explains what one yard in Gainesville can differ from the 32610 normal.