Frost dates in Alabama

Across Alabama's 117 NOAA stations with a frost every year, the typical last spring frost ranges from February 21 at Mobile Downtown Airport (30 feet above sea level) to April 11 at Hamilton 3 S (440 feet above sea level). The middle station's date is March 22.

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Last frost across Alabama

The frost-free season runs from 198 days at Hamilton 3 S to 292 days at Mobile Downtown Airport.

The station with the latest frost is about 240 miles farther north than the one with the earliest.

At 1 station a freezing night doesn't come every winter, so the dates there apply only to the years that have one.

These are typical dates: in half of springs the last frost comes later. Each place's page, and each ZIP code lookup, also gives the late-year date, after which only 1 spring in 10 has a frost. That's the safer date for tender plants.

Frost dates for Alabama's larger places

Typical (1-in-2) dates. Each place's page has the early and late years, a planting calendar and a printable planner. Zones are for the ZIP code nearest each place's center.

Hardiness zones in Alabama

Alabama's 804 ZIP codes in the USDA list fall in zones 7b to 9b: 7b (6 percent), 8a (41 percent), 8b (42 percent), 9a (11 percent) and 9b (under 1 percent). Compared with the 2012 map, 80 percent of them moved to a warmer half zone (3 by a full zone or more) and 20 percent stayed the same.

A hardiness zone is about the coldest night of winter, which decides which shrubs, trees and perennials survive. Frost dates are about spring and fall, which decide when to plant. You need both. Read more about what the zones mean and what changed in 2023.

Every NOAA station in Alabama

All 118 stations in Alabama with frost statistics in NOAA's 1991 to 2020 normals, from A to Z. Station names are usually a town, an airport, or a distance and direction from a town. Find one near you and at a similar elevation.

*Not every winter has a freeze at this station; the date is for the years that do.

Typical (1-in-2) dates at 32°F. For the early and late years, and a planting calendar built from your own dates, look up your ZIP code.