Gainesville, TX 76240 Frost Dates
Frost dates for Gainesville, TX, ZIP 76240
Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 04/06, roughly 221 days out. The first fall frost typically arrives around 11/02, about 211 frost-free days later.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Gainesville in Zone 8a (10 to 15°F average annual minimum); frost dates are NOAA's 1991-2020 station normal, not this year's forecast.
What to do before the first frost
Zone 8a around Gainesville has about 9 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.
The actual range around Gainesville's last frost
04/06 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Plant by 03/16 and you're betting against frost in roughly 9 years out of 10. 04/24 is the safer bet, historically only a 1-in-10 chance of frost that late.
How Gainesville compares
Gainesville's growing season runs about 211 days, ranking 14,731 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within TX, it ranks 2,386 of 2,558.
Learn more
local microclimates explains what one yard in Gainesville can differ from the 76240 normal, and zone vs. frost date explains why Zone 8a and Gainesville's frost date answer different questions.