Jena, LA 71371 Frost Dates
When can you plant in Jena, LA?
Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 03/19, roughly 203 days out. The first fall frost typically arrives around 11/12, about 238 frost-free days later.
Jena sits in USDA Zone 8b (15 to 20°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.
What to do before the first frost
About 11 weeks of growing season left in Jena before the first fall frost — a cold frame or row cover can stretch harvest weeks past that date.
The actual range around Jena's last frost
03/19 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Plant by 02/25 and you're betting against frost in roughly 9 years out of 10. 04/09 is the safer bet, historically only a 1-in-10 chance of frost that late.
How Jena compares
At roughly 238 frost-free days, Jena places 8,972 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within LA, it ranks 659 of 710.
Learn more
local microclimates covers what one yard in Jena can differ from the 71371 normal. zone vs. frost date covers why Zone 8b and Jena's frost date answer different questions.