Gautier, MS 39569 Frost Dates
39569, near Gautier, MS: the frost window
Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 03/01, roughly 185 days out. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 11/24, roughly 269 days after the last spring frost.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Gautier in Zone 9a (20 to 25°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
Gautier's growing season runs out in roughly 13 weeks — a cold frame or greenhouse kit is the usual way to keep cool-weather crops going past the first frost.
Why 03/01 isn't a guarantee
03/01 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 02/06 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 03/24 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Gautier against the rest of the dataset
About 269 days separate Gautier's last and first frost, putting it 5,663 of 40,283 ZIP codes nationally. Within MS, it ranks 30 of 523.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 39569: the frost range, on how to read the range around Gautier's dates instead of trusting one, and local microclimates, on what one yard in Gautier can differ from the 39569 normal.