Plainview, AR 72860 Frost Dates
72860, near Plainview, AR: the frost window
Around 03/22 is the usual last spring frost, about 206 days away. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 11/11, roughly 233 days after the last spring frost.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Plainview in Zone 8a (10 to 15°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
Plainview'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
03/22 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 03/02 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 04/07 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Plainview against the rest of the dataset
At roughly 233 frost-free days, Plainview places 9,967 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within AR, it ranks 200 of 687.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 72860: local microclimates, on what one yard in Plainview can differ from the 72860 normal, and zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 8a and Plainview's frost date answer different questions.