Benton, LA 71161 Frost Dates
71161, near Benton, 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 11/24, roughly 268 days after the last spring frost.
Zone 8b (15 to 20°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 Benton, not a forecast for this year.
Stretching the season past the first frost
Benton'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.
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 02/04 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 03/19 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Benton against the rest of the dataset
About 268 days separate Benton's last and first frost, putting it 5,792 of 40,283 ZIP codes nationally. Within LA, it ranks 400 of 710.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 71161: local microclimates, on what one yard in Benton can differ from the 71161 normal, and zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 8b and Benton's frost date answer different questions.