Fairhope, AL 36533 Frost Dates
36533, near Fairhope, AL: the frost window
Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 03/10, roughly 194 days out. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 11/17, roughly 253 days after the last spring frost.
Fairhope sits in USDA Zone 9a (20 to 25°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.
Stretching the season past the first frost
Fairhope'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 03/10 isn't a guarantee
03/10 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 02/20 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 03/30 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Fairhope against the rest of the dataset
About 253 days separate Fairhope's last and first frost, putting it 7,087 of 40,283 ZIP codes nationally. Within AL, it ranks 183 of 809.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 36533: local microclimates, on what one yard in Fairhope can differ from the 36533 normal, and zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 9a and Fairhope's frost date answer different questions.