Reform, AL 35481 Frost Dates
35481, near Reform, AL: the frost window
Around 03/24 is the usual last spring frost, about 208 days away. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 11/08, roughly 230 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 Reform, not a forecast for this year.
Stretching the season past the first frost
Reform's growing season runs out in roughly 10 weeks — a cold frame or greenhouse kit is the usual way to keep cool-weather crops going past the first frost.
Why 03/24 isn't a guarantee
03/24 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 03/01 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 04/13 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Reform against the rest of the dataset
Reform's growing season runs about 230 days, ranking 10,431 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within AL, it ranks 505 of 809.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 35481: zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 8a and Reform's frost date answer different questions, and the frost range, on how to read the range around Reform's dates instead of trusting one.