Stephenville, TX 76461 Frost Dates
76461, near Stephenville, TX: the frost window
Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 03/29, roughly 213 days out. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 11/08, roughly 226 days after the last spring frost.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Stephenville in Zone 8b (15 to 20°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
Stephenville'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.
Why 03/29 isn't a guarantee
03/29 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 03/09 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 04/18 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Stephenville against the rest of the dataset
Stephenville's growing season runs about 226 days, ranking 11,160 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within TX, it ranks 2,235 of 2,558.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 76461: local microclimates, on what one yard in Stephenville can differ from the 76461 normal, and zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 8b and Stephenville's frost date answer different questions.