New Orleans, LA 70190 Frost Dates
New Orleans, LA: when does the frost end?
Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 02/10, roughly 166 days out. 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
With roughly 16 weeks until New Orleans's first fall frost, a row cover or cold frame is what stretches the last few weeks of harvest here.
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 01/12 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 3,628 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within LA, it ranks 122 of 710.
Learn more
Before leaning on 70190's figures: zone vs. frost date explains why Zone 9b and New Orleans's frost date answer different questions, while the frost range explains how to read the range around New Orleans's dates instead of trusting one.