New Orleans, LA 70170 Frost Dates
70170, near New Orleans, LA: the frost window
The last spring frost here typically falls around 02/10, about 166 days from today. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 12/17, roughly 309 days after the last spring frost.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts New Orleans 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
New Orleans's growing season runs out in roughly 16 weeks — a cold frame or greenhouse kit is the usual way to keep cool-weather crops going past the first frost.
How much risk comes with planting early here
02/10 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 01/12 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 03/08 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
New Orleans against the rest of the dataset
At roughly 309 frost-free days, New Orleans places 3,615 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within LA, it ranks 109 of 710.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 70170: zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 9b and New Orleans's frost date answer different questions, and the frost range, on how to read the range around New Orleans's dates instead of trusting one.