Cape Girardeau, MO 63702 Frost Dates
Frost dates for Cape Girardeau, MO, ZIP 63702
Around 04/07 is the usual last spring frost, about 222 days away. The first fall frost typically arrives around 10/29, about 202 frost-free days later.
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.
What to do before the first frost
Zone 7a around Cape Girardeau has about 9 weeks left before the first fall frost — that's the usual window to get a cold frame up if you want to keep harvesting past it.
How much risk comes with planting early here
04/07 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Plant by 03/24 and you're betting against frost in roughly 9 years out of 10. 04/22 is the safer bet, historically only a 1-in-10 chance of frost that late.
How Cape Girardeau compares
About 202 days separate Cape Girardeau's last and first frost, putting it 17,127 of 40,283 ZIP codes nationally. Within MO, it ranks 330 of 1,129.
Learn more
zone vs. frost date explains why Zone 7a and Cape Girardeau's frost date answer different questions, and the frost range explains how to read the range around Cape Girardeau's dates instead of trusting one.