Melville, LA 71353 Frost Dates
Frost dates for Melville, LA, ZIP 71353
Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 02/19, roughly 175 days out. The first fall frost typically arrives around 12/05, about 292 frost-free days later.
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 Melville, not a forecast for this year.
What to do before the first frost
Zone 9a around Melville has about 14 weeks left before the first fall frost — that's the usual window to get a cold frame up if you want to keep harvesting past it.
Why 02/19 isn't a guarantee
02/19 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Plant by 01/21 and you're betting against frost in roughly 9 years out of 10. 03/14 is the safer bet, historically only a 1-in-10 chance of frost that late.
How Melville compares
About 292 days separate Melville's last and first frost, putting it 4,381 of 40,283 ZIP codes nationally. Within LA, it ranks 217 of 710.
Learn more
local microclimates explains what one yard in Melville can differ from the 71353 normal, and zone vs. frost date explains why Zone 9a and Melville's frost date answer different questions.