Smithville, MS 38870 Frost Dates
Smithville, MS: when does the frost end?
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.
Zone 8a (10 to 15°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 Smithville, not a forecast for this year.
Stretching the season past the first frost
With roughly 9 weeks until Smithville's first fall frost, a row cover or cold frame is what stretches the last few weeks of harvest here.
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.
Smithville against the rest of the dataset
About 212 days separate Smithville's last and first frost, putting it 14,661 of 40,283 ZIP codes nationally. Within MS, it ranks 490 of 523.
Learn more
Before leaning on 38870's figures: local microclimates explains what one yard in Smithville can differ from the 38870 normal, while zone vs. frost date explains why Zone 8a and Smithville's frost date answer different questions.