Marion, MS 39302 Frost Dates
Marion, MS: when does the frost end?
Around 03/16 is the usual last spring frost, about 200 days away. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 11/12, roughly 239 days after the last spring frost.
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 Marion, not a forecast for this year.
Stretching the season past the first frost
With roughly 11 weeks until Marion's first fall frost, a row cover or cold frame is what stretches the last few weeks of harvest here.
Why 03/16 isn't a guarantee
03/16 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 02/24 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 04/03 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Marion against the rest of the dataset
About 239 days separate Marion's last and first frost, putting it 8,843 of 40,283 ZIP codes nationally. Within MS, it ranks 264 of 523.
Learn more
Before leaning on 39302's figures: local microclimates explains what one yard in Marion can differ from the 39302 normal, while zone vs. frost date explains why Zone 8b and Marion's frost date answer different questions.