Riesel, TX 76682 Frost Dates
76682, near Riesel, TX: the frost window
Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 03/21, roughly 205 days out. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 11/09, roughly 234 days after the last spring frost.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Riesel 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
Riesel'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.
How much risk comes with planting early here
03/21 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 04/10 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Riesel against the rest of the dataset
At roughly 234 frost-free days, Riesel places 9,777 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within TX, it ranks 2,064 of 2,558.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 76682: local microclimates, on what one yard in Riesel can differ from the 76682 normal, and zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 8b and Riesel's frost date answer different questions.