Fairfield Bay, AR 72088 Frost Dates
72088, near Fairfield Bay, AR: the frost window
Around 03/31 is the usual last spring frost, about 215 days away. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 11/06, roughly 222 days after the last spring frost.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Fairfield Bay in Zone 7b (5 to 10°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
Fairfield Bay's growing season runs out in roughly 10 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
03/31 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 03/11 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 04/16 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Fairfield Bay against the rest of the dataset
Fairfield Bay's growing season runs about 222 days, ranking 12,268 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within AR, it ranks 388 of 687.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 72088: local microclimates, on what one yard in Fairfield Bay can differ from the 72088 normal, and zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 7b and Fairfield Bay's frost date answer different questions.