Daphne, AL 36526 Frost Dates
36526, near Daphne, AL: the frost window
Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 03/15, roughly 199 days out. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 11/19, roughly 251 days after the last spring frost.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Daphne in Zone 9a (20 to 25°F average annual minimum); frost dates are NOAA's 1991-2020 station normal, not this year's forecast.
Stretching the season past the first frost
Daphne's growing season runs out in roughly 12 weeks — a cold frame or greenhouse kit is the usual way to keep cool-weather crops going past the first frost.
Why 03/15 isn't a guarantee
03/15 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 02/17 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 04/02 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Daphne against the rest of the dataset
About 251 days separate Daphne's last and first frost, putting it 7,285 of 40,283 ZIP codes nationally. Within AL, it ranks 190 of 809.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 36526: the frost range, on how to read the range around Daphne's dates instead of trusting one, and local microclimates, on what one yard in Daphne can differ from the 36526 normal.