Freeze Information for Western North Carolina

Note: Frost can occur even when the recorded low temperature is a few degrees above freezing. Thus, the earliest/average/latest date of the last frost is roughly 14 days later then the spring dates below, and the earliest/average/latest date of the first frost is about 12 days before the fall dates below. Also, deeper valleys will tend to have frost/freezing conditions later in the spring and earlier in the fall than surrounding terrain.

Last Spring Temperature at or below 32 Degrees

First Fall/Summer Temperature at or below 32 Degrees

Freeze-Free Period

*Mowing Misery Index (MMI): (Freeze-Free Days / 7) + 5. The average number of times you can expect to mow your lawn (assuming you mow once every week and allowing for 2.5 mowings on either side of the freezing season).

The data above is the Ray's Weather Center analysis of NWS Co-Op Weather Station SOD data through 2003 available from the National Climatic Data Center. Results here are similar to but independent of Frost Freeze Data available at www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/documentlibrary/freezefrost/freezefrost.pdf published in 1988.