Fort Gaines, GA 39851 Frost Dates
39851, near Fort Gaines, GA: the frost window
Around 03/13 is the usual last spring frost, about 197 days away. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 11/21, roughly 256 days after the last spring frost.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Fort Gaines in Zone 8b (15 to 20°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
Fort Gaines's growing season runs out in roughly 12 weeks — a cold frame or greenhouse kit is the usual way to keep cool-weather crops going past the first frost.
Why 03/13 isn't a guarantee
03/13 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 02/21 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 03/28 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Fort Gaines against the rest of the dataset
Fort Gaines's growing season runs about 256 days, ranking 6,844 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within GA, it ranks 186 of 921.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 39851: local microclimates, on what one yard in Fort Gaines can differ from the 39851 normal, and zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 8b and Fort Gaines's frost date answer different questions.