Opelousas, LA 70550 Frost Dates
70550, near Opelousas, LA: the frost window
The last spring frost here typically falls around 02/28, about 184 days from today. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 11/23, roughly 267 days after the last spring frost.
Opelousas sits in USDA Zone 9a (20 to 25°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.
Stretching the season past the first frost
Opelousas's growing season runs out in roughly 12 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
02/28 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 01/31 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 03/25 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Opelousas against the rest of the dataset
Opelousas's growing season runs about 267 days, ranking 5,838 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within LA, it ranks 432 of 710.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 70550: the frost range, on how to read the range around Opelousas's dates instead of trusting one, and local microclimates, on what one yard in Opelousas can differ from the 70550 normal.