Punta Gorda, FL 33980 Frost Dates
33980, near Punta Gorda, FL: the frost window
The last spring frost here typically falls around 01/21, about 146 days from today. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 01/14, roughly 365 days after the last spring frost.
Zone 10a (30 to 35°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 Punta Gorda, not a forecast for this year.
Stretching the season past the first frost
Punta Gorda's growing season runs out in roughly 20 weeks — a cold frame or greenhouse kit is the usual way to keep cool-weather crops going past the first frost.
Why 01/21 isn't a guarantee
01/21 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 01/01 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 02/14 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Punta Gorda against the rest of the dataset
About 365 days separate Punta Gorda's last and first frost, putting it 1,249 of 40,283 ZIP codes nationally. Within FL, it ranks 533 of 1,609.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 33980: zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 10a and Punta Gorda's frost date answer different questions, and the frost range, on how to read the range around Punta Gorda's dates instead of trusting one.