Cape Girardeau, MO 63701 Frost Dates
Cape Girardeau, MO: when does the frost end?
The last spring frost here typically falls around 04/07, about 222 days from today. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/29, roughly 202 days after the last spring frost.
Zone 7a (0 to 5°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 Cape Girardeau, not a forecast for this year.
Stretching the season past the first frost
With roughly 9 weeks until Cape Girardeau's first fall frost, a row cover or cold frame is what stretches the last few weeks of harvest here.
Why 04/07 isn't a guarantee
04/07 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 03/24 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 04/22 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Cape Girardeau against the rest of the dataset
Cape Girardeau's growing season runs about 202 days, ranking 17,126 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within MO, it ranks 329 of 1,129.
Learn more
Before leaning on 63701's figures: zone vs. frost date explains why Zone 7a and Cape Girardeau's frost date answer different questions, while the frost range explains how to read the range around Cape Girardeau's dates instead of trusting one.