Waco, TX 76716 Frost Dates
76716, near Waco, TX: the frost window
The last spring frost here typically falls around 03/09, about 193 days from today. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 11/20, roughly 256 days after the last spring frost.
Zone 8b (15 to 20°F average annual minimum) comes from the USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map; the frost dates above are the 1991-2020 normal at the nearest reporting NOAA station for Waco, not a forecast for this year.
Stretching the season past the first frost
Waco'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.
Why 03/09 isn't a guarantee
03/09 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 02/17 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 04/04 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Waco against the rest of the dataset
At roughly 256 frost-free days, Waco places 6,781 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within TX, it ranks 1,471 of 2,558.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 76716: the frost range, on how to read the range around Waco's dates instead of trusting one, and local microclimates, on what one yard in Waco can differ from the 76716 normal.