Meridian, MS 39309 Frost Dates
39309, near Meridian, MS: the frost window
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 Meridian, not a forecast for this year.
Stretching the season past the first frost
Meridian'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 02/24 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.
Meridian against the rest of the dataset
About 239 days separate Meridian's last and first frost, putting it 8,783 of 40,283 ZIP codes nationally. Within MS, it ranks 259 of 523.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 39309: the frost range, on how to read the range around Meridian's dates instead of trusting one, and local microclimates, on what one yard in Meridian can differ from the 39309 normal.