Mer Rouge, LA 71261 Frost Dates
71261, near Mer Rouge, LA: the frost window
Around 03/15 is the usual last spring frost, about 199 days away. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 11/12, roughly 241 days after the last spring frost.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Mer Rouge in Zone 8b (15 to 20°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
Mer Rouge's growing season runs out in roughly 11 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
03/15 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 02/26 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 04/03 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Mer Rouge against the rest of the dataset
About 241 days separate Mer Rouge's last and first frost, putting it 8,614 of 40,283 ZIP codes nationally. Within LA, it ranks 646 of 710.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 71261: zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 8b and Mer Rouge's frost date answer different questions, and the frost range, on how to read the range around Mer Rouge's dates instead of trusting one.