Opelika, AL 36865 Frost Dates
Frost dates for Opelika, AL, ZIP 36865
Around 03/13 is the usual last spring frost, about 197 days away. The first fall frost typically arrives around 11/17, about 246 frost-free days later.
Zone 8b (15 to 20°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 Opelika, not a forecast for this year.
What to do before the first frost
Zone 8b around Opelika has about 12 weeks left before the first fall frost — that's the usual window to get a cold frame up if you want to keep harvesting past it.
How much risk comes with planting early here
03/13 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Plant by 02/21 and you're betting against frost in roughly 9 years out of 10. 04/03 is the safer bet, historically only a 1-in-10 chance of frost that late.
How Opelika compares
At roughly 246 frost-free days, Opelika places 7,914 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within AL, it ranks 236 of 809.
Learn more
local microclimates explains what one yard in Opelika can differ from the 36865 normal, and zone vs. frost date explains why Zone 8b and Opelika's frost date answer different questions.