Gainesville, MO 65655 Frost Dates
When can you plant in Gainesville, MO?
Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 04/09, roughly 224 days out. The first fall frost typically arrives around 10/23, about 196 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 Gainesville, not a forecast for this year.
What to do before the first frost
About 8 weeks of growing season left in Gainesville 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
04/09 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. 04/28 is the safer bet, historically only a 1-in-10 chance of frost that late.
How Gainesville compares
At roughly 196 frost-free days, Gainesville places 19,032 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within MO, it ranks 575 of 1,129.
Learn more
zone vs. frost date covers why Zone 7a and Gainesville's frost date answer different questions. the frost range covers how to read the range around Gainesville's dates instead of trusting one.