New Orleans, LA 70160 Frost Dates
Frost dates for New Orleans, LA, ZIP 70160
Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 02/10, roughly 166 days out. The first fall frost typically arrives around 12/17, about 309 frost-free days later.
New Orleans sits in USDA Zone 9b (25 to 30°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
Zone 9b around New Orleans has about 16 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.
The actual range around New Orleans's last frost
02/10 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Plant by 01/12 and you're betting against frost in roughly 9 years out of 10. 03/08 is the safer bet, historically only a 1-in-10 chance of frost that late.
How New Orleans compares
About 309 days separate New Orleans's last and first frost, putting it 3,608 of 40,283 ZIP codes nationally. Within LA, it ranks 102 of 710.
Learn more
local microclimates explains what one yard in New Orleans can differ from the 70160 normal, and zone vs. frost date explains why Zone 9b and New Orleans's frost date answer different questions.