Memphis, TN 38117 Frost Dates
38117, near Memphis, TN: the frost window
Around 03/29 is the usual last spring frost, about 213 days away. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 11/05, roughly 223 days after the last spring frost.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Memphis in Zone 8a (10 to 15°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
Memphis's growing season runs out in roughly 10 weeks — a cold frame or greenhouse kit is the usual way to keep cool-weather crops going past the first frost.
The actual range around Memphis's last frost
03/29 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 03/09 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 04/13 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Memphis against the rest of the dataset
Memphis's growing season runs about 223 days, ranking 11,990 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within TN, it ranks 88 of 770.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 38117: local microclimates, on what one yard in Memphis can differ from the 38117 normal, and zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 8a and Memphis's frost date answer different questions.