Helena-West Helena, AR 72390 Frost Dates
Helena-West Helena, AR: when does the frost end?
Around 03/15 is the usual last spring frost, about 199 days away. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 11/16, roughly 246 days after the last spring frost.
Helena-West Helena sits in USDA Zone 8a (10 to 15°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.
Stretching the season past the first frost
With roughly 11 weeks until Helena-West Helena's first fall frost, a row cover or cold frame is what stretches the last few weeks of harvest here.
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 02/27 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 04/01 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Helena-West Helena against the rest of the dataset
About 246 days separate Helena-West Helena's last and first frost, putting it 7,924 of 40,283 ZIP codes nationally. Within AR, it ranks 27 of 687.
Learn more
Before leaning on 72390's figures: the frost range explains how to read the range around Helena-West Helena's dates instead of trusting one, while local microclimates explains what one yard in Helena-West Helena can differ from the 72390 normal.