Gatesville, TX 76596 Frost Dates
76596, near Gatesville, TX: the frost window
The last spring frost here typically falls around 03/15, about 199 days from today. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 11/18, roughly 247 days after the last spring frost.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Gatesville 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
Gatesville's growing season runs out in roughly 12 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
03/15 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 02/25 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.
Gatesville against the rest of the dataset
Gatesville's growing season runs about 247 days, ranking 7,806 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within TX, it ranks 1,758 of 2,558.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 76596: local microclimates, on what one yard in Gatesville can differ from the 76596 normal, and zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 8b and Gatesville's frost date answer different questions.