FrostDateCheck

Port Allen, LA 70801 Frost Dates

70801, near Port Allen, LA: the frost window

Zone 9a

The last spring frost here typically falls around 02/28, about 184 days from today. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 11/26, roughly 272 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 Port Allen, not a forecast for this year.

Stretching the season past the first frost

Port Allen's growing season runs out in roughly 13 weeks — a cold frame or greenhouse kit is the usual way to keep cool-weather crops going past the first frost.

Why 02/28 isn't a guarantee

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 03/21 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.

Port Allen against the rest of the dataset

About 272 days separate Port Allen's last and first frost, putting it 5,382 of 40,283 ZIP codes nationally. Within LA, it ranks 326 of 710.

Learn more

Two guides worth reading on 70801: local microclimates, on what one yard in Port Allen can differ from the 70801 normal, and zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 9a and Port Allen's frost date answer different questions.