Memphis, TN 38027 Frost Dates
38027, near Memphis, TN: the frost window
The last spring frost here typically falls around 03/16, about 200 days from today. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 11/16, roughly 244 days after the last spring frost.
Memphis sits in USDA Zone 8a (10 to 15°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
Memphis's growing season runs out in roughly 11 weeks — a cold frame or greenhouse kit is the usual way to keep cool-weather crops going past the first frost.
How much risk comes with planting early here
03/16 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 02/27 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 04/04 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Memphis against the rest of the dataset
About 244 days separate Memphis's last and first frost, putting it 8,097 of 40,283 ZIP codes nationally. Within TN, it ranks 3 of 770.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 38027: local microclimates, on what one yard in Memphis can differ from the 38027 normal, and zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 8a and Memphis's frost date answer different questions.