Columbia, MO 65201 Frost Dates
When can you plant in Columbia, MO?
Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 04/05, roughly 220 days out. The first fall frost typically arrives around 10/31, about 207 frost-free days later.
Columbia sits in USDA Zone 6b (-5 to 0°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.
What to do before the first frost
About 9 weeks of growing season left in Columbia before the first fall frost — a cold frame or row cover can stretch harvest weeks past that date.
How much risk comes with planting early here
04/05 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Plant by 03/19 and you're betting against frost in roughly 9 years out of 10. 04/21 is the safer bet, historically only a 1-in-10 chance of frost that late.
How Columbia compares
At roughly 207 frost-free days, Columbia places 15,780 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within MO, it ranks 192 of 1,129.
Learn more
zone vs. frost date covers why Zone 6b and Columbia's frost date answer different questions. the frost range covers how to read the range around Columbia's dates instead of trusting one.