FrostDateCheck

Austin, TX 78691 Frost Dates

78691, near Austin, TX: the frost window

Zone 9a

The last spring frost here typically falls around 02/20, about 176 days from today. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 12/03, roughly 291 days after the last spring frost.

The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Austin in Zone 9a (20 to 25°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

Austin's growing season runs out in roughly 14 weeks — a cold frame or greenhouse kit is the usual way to keep cool-weather crops going past the first frost.

The actual range around Austin's last frost

02/20 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 01/23 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 03/14 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.

Austin against the rest of the dataset

Austin's growing season runs about 291 days, ranking 4,393 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within TX, it ranks 555 of 2,558.

Learn more

Two guides worth reading on 78691: the frost range, on how to read the range around Austin's dates instead of trusting one, and local microclimates, on what one yard in Austin can differ from the 78691 normal.