Jean Lafitte, LA 70096 Frost Dates
70096, near Jean Lafitte, LA: the frost window
Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 02/10, roughly 166 days out. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 12/12, roughly 306 days after the last spring frost.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Jean Lafitte in Zone 9b (25 to 30°F average annual minimum); frost dates are NOAA's 1991-2020 station normal, not this year's forecast.
Stretching the season past the first frost
Jean Lafitte's growing season runs out in roughly 15 weeks — a cold frame or greenhouse kit is the usual way to keep cool-weather crops going past the first frost.
Why 02/10 isn't a guarantee
02/10 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 01/09 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 03/10 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Jean Lafitte against the rest of the dataset
About 306 days separate Jean Lafitte's last and first frost, putting it 3,710 of 40,283 ZIP codes nationally. Within LA, it ranks 166 of 710.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 70096: local microclimates, on what one yard in Jean Lafitte can differ from the 70096 normal, and zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 9b and Jean Lafitte's frost date answer different questions.