Mantachie, MS 38855 Frost Dates
38855, near Mantachie, MS: the frost window
Around 04/01 is the usual last spring frost, about 216 days away. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/31, roughly 212 days after the last spring frost.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Mantachie 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
Mantachie's growing season runs out in roughly 9 weeks — a cold frame or greenhouse kit is the usual way to keep cool-weather crops going past the first frost.
Why 04/01 isn't a guarantee
04/01 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 03/16 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 04/16 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Mantachie against the rest of the dataset
At roughly 212 frost-free days, Mantachie places 14,634 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within MS, it ranks 488 of 523.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 38855: the frost range, on how to read the range around Mantachie's dates instead of trusting one, and local microclimates, on what one yard in Mantachie can differ from the 38855 normal.