Columbia, MO 65203 Frost Dates
Frost dates for Columbia, MO, ZIP 65203
The last spring frost here typically falls around 04/05, about 220 days from today. The first fall frost typically arrives around 10/31, about 207 frost-free days later.
Zone 6b (-5 to 0°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 Columbia, not a forecast for this year.
What to do before the first frost
Zone 6b around Columbia 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
04/05 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 15,782 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within MO, it ranks 194 of 1,129.
Learn more
the frost range explains how to read the range around Columbia's dates instead of trusting one, and local microclimates explains what one yard in Columbia can differ from the 65203 normal.