FrostDateCheck

Mulga, AL 35202 Frost Dates

35202, near Mulga, AL: the frost window

Zone 8a

The last spring frost here typically falls around 03/21, about 205 days from today. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 11/11, roughly 236 days after the last spring frost.

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 Mulga, not a forecast for this year.

Stretching the season past the first frost

Mulga's growing season runs out in roughly 11 weeks — a cold frame or greenhouse kit is the usual way to keep cool-weather crops going past the first frost.

Why 03/21 isn't a guarantee

03/21 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 02/28 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 04/08 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.

Mulga against the rest of the dataset

About 236 days separate Mulga's last and first frost, putting it 9,469 of 40,283 ZIP codes nationally. Within AL, it ranks 393 of 809.

Learn more

Two guides worth reading on 35202: zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 8a and Mulga's frost date answer different questions, and the frost range, on how to read the range around Mulga's dates instead of trusting one.