Rutledge, AL 36071 Frost Dates
When can you plant in Rutledge, AL?
Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 03/28, roughly 212 days out. The first fall frost typically arrives around 11/07, about 224 frost-free days later.
Rutledge sits in USDA Zone 8b (15 to 20°F average annual minimum). The dates above are NOAA's 1991-2020 normal at the nearest reporting station, a 30-year average, not a forecast.
What to do before the first frost
About 10 weeks of growing season left in Rutledge before the first fall frost — a cold frame or row cover can stretch harvest weeks past that date.
The actual range around Rutledge's last frost
03/28 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Plant by 03/08 and you're betting against frost in roughly 9 years out of 10. 04/15 is the safer bet, historically only a 1-in-10 chance of frost that late.
How Rutledge compares
At roughly 224 frost-free days, Rutledge places 11,949 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within AL, it ranks 603 of 809.
Learn more
local microclimates covers what one yard in Rutledge can differ from the 36071 normal. zone vs. frost date covers why Zone 8b and Rutledge's frost date answer different questions.