Gulfport, MS 39501 Frost Dates
39501, near Gulfport, MS: the frost window
Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 02/18, roughly 174 days out. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 12/14, roughly 300 days after the last spring frost.
Gulfport sits in USDA Zone 9a (20 to 25°F average annual minimum). The dates above are NOAA's 1991-2020 normal at the nearest reporting station, a 30-year average, not a forecast.
Stretching the season past the first frost
Gulfport's growing season runs out in roughly 15 weeks — a cold frame or greenhouse kit is the usual way to keep cool-weather crops going past the first frost.
Why 02/18 isn't a guarantee
02/18 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 01/17 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 03/14 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Gulfport against the rest of the dataset
About 300 days separate Gulfport's last and first frost, putting it 4,086 of 40,283 ZIP codes nationally. Within MS, it ranks 7 of 523.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 39501: the frost range, on how to read the range around Gulfport's dates instead of trusting one, and local microclimates, on what one yard in Gulfport can differ from the 39501 normal.