Frost dates in Virginia

Across Virginia's 125 NOAA stations with a frost every year, the typical last spring frost ranges from March 16 at Norfolk NAS (20 feet above sea level) to May 12 at Mill Gap (2,420 feet above sea level). The middle station's date is April 14.

Look up your ZIP code

Your ZIP code

Show my frost dates

Remember my ZIP code on this computer

Your ZIP code stays on this computer. Your browser downloads the frost data for every ZIP code that starts with the same three digits and finds yours itself, so the ZIP you type isn't sent to anyone.

Last frost across Virginia

The frost-free season runs from 143 days at Mill Gap to 255 days at Norfolk NAS.

The station with the latest frost sits about 2,400 feet higher than the one with the earliest.

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 Virginia'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 Virginia

Virginia's 1,196 ZIP codes in the USDA list fall in zones 6a to 8b: 6a (under 1 percent), 6b (3 percent), 7a (32 percent), 7b (43 percent), 8a (16 percent) and 8b (5 percent). Compared with the 2012 map, 65 percent of them moved to a warmer half zone (17 by a full zone or more), 35 percent stayed the same and 3 moved to a colder one.

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 Virginia

All 125 stations in Virginia 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.

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.