Lafayette, LA 70501 Frost Dates
Lafayette, LA: when does the frost end?
Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 02/13, roughly 169 days out. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 12/04, roughly 299 days after the last spring frost.
Zone 9a (20 to 25°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 Lafayette, not a forecast for this year.
Stretching the season past the first frost
With roughly 14 weeks until Lafayette's first fall frost, a row cover or cold frame is what stretches the last few weeks of harvest here.
Why 02/13 isn't a guarantee
02/13 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 01/13 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.
Lafayette against the rest of the dataset
Lafayette's growing season runs about 299 days, ranking 4,146 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within LA, it ranks 176 of 710.
Learn more
Before leaning on 70501's figures: local microclimates explains what one yard in Lafayette can differ from the 70501 normal, while zone vs. frost date explains why Zone 9a and Lafayette's frost date answer different questions.