Atlanta, GA Frost Dates: Last Spring and First Fall Frost

In a typical year the final freeze of spring reaches Atlanta around March 24, and the first freeze of autumn returns around November 8. NOAA's normals call the frost-free stretch between them 231 days long.

Even odds are a coin toss, so plan around the safer edges: one spring in ten still has a freeze on or after April 10, and one fall in ten has its first freeze by October 27. The 100 cities covered here have a median season of 229 days, and Atlanta is close to it.

NOAA measured them at Atlanta Fulton CO AP (station USW00003888), about 5.8 miles west of the Census Bureau's internal point for Atlanta and about 840 feet above sea level.

Atlanta's last spring frost, by chance

NOAA gives March 2 as the date a spring freeze is still ahead in nine years out of ten, March 24 as the date it is still ahead in half of them, and April 10 as the date only one year in ten passes.

The early and late dates are 39 days apart, about the spread most cities on these pages show.

When is the first frost in Atlanta?

A first freeze on or before October 27 happens one fall in ten. By November 8 half of years have had one, and by November 26 nine years in ten have.

The early and late fall dates are 30 days apart, a typical spread for the cities covered here.

How long is the frost-free season in Atlanta?

That is close to the middle of the cities covered here. Plan on 207 days in a short year, 231 days in a typical one, and as many as 258 days in a long one.

NOAA counts these days from its own simulations, so they will not equal the number of days between the two typical dates exactly. A night at or below 32°F happens in 100% of years at this station, so frost is a yearly event here.

28°F dates in Atlanta

Hard freezes are late to arrive in Atlanta and early to leave: November 20 in fall, 12 days behind the first frost, and March 9 in spring, 15 days ahead of the last. The late 28°F spring date, March 27, is the one that still catches blooms and young transplants one year in ten, and the early fall date, November 4, is when a hard freeze has arrived in one fall out of ten.

What this means for planting in Atlanta

University of New Hampshire Extension sorts vegetables by how they cope with cold. Cool-season crops go out before the last frost: counting from March 24, cabbage transplants go in on February 24 and lettuce from February 24 to March 3. Tender crops wait until it has passed, with peppers going out on April 7 and beans sown on or after March 24. Peas have no frost-based date in the University of New Hampshire Extension sheet: they go in as soon as the soil thaws.

The late date comes 17 days after the typical one; choose it for plants you cannot cover.

Atlanta's first frost leaves room for only 32 of the 34 fall crops, counting back NC State Extension's days to harvest and University of Georgia Extension's harvest allowance of 18 days; for the other 2 the last planting day falls before July. Of the crops that fit, collard greens is the slowest: 118 days from planting to the early frost, which makes July 1 its last day.

Worked example: planting broccoli for fall in Atlanta

Work through broccoli transplants for fall in Atlanta. The longest days to harvest NC State Extension gives is 80 days, plus University of Georgia Extension's allowance of 18 days, for 98 days in all. Subtract that from the typical first frost on November 8 and the last day to plant is August 2; subtract it from the early date on October 27 and it is July 21.

The two answers are only 12 days apart, so in Atlanta the choice between the typical and the early date hardly changes the plan.

The same crop family has a spring clock too. University of New Hampshire Extension sets cabbage out ahead of the last frost, and from March 24 in Atlanta that means on February 24.

The weather station behind these dates

5.8 miles west of the city's internal point, the station is close but not on top of Atlanta.

Its elevation is about 840 feet. Of the 100 stations behind these pages, 35 sit higher and 63 lower. NOAA flags this station's record as representative, the code R, for the data behind its 50% last-frost value.

The Census Gazetteer gives no elevation for Atlanta itself, so this page cannot tell you whether your garden sits above or below the station. If it is noticeably higher or lower, compare the stations the frost dates tool lists nearby and lean toward the colder reading.

How Atlanta's frost dates compare

Here is how Atlanta, with a last frost on March 24 and a first frost on November 8, compares with the three nearest cities on these pages, the closest being Columbus, GA at 90 miles.

• Columbus, GA lies 90 miles south of Atlanta. Typical last frost March 21, first frost November 11, 238 days between; its last frost is nearly the same as Atlanta's, and the season is about the same length as Atlanta's.
• Augusta, GA (138 miles, east): spring frost ends about when it does in Atlanta, and frost-free days differ from Atlanta's by less than a week. Its typical dates are March 23 and November 9, with 232 days frost-free.
• Huntsville, AL lies 144 miles north-west of Atlanta. Typical last frost March 24, first frost November 8, 229 days between; spring frost ends about when it does in Atlanta, and the season is within about a week of Atlanta's.

Take these dates further

The frost dates tool opens on this station and lists every probability date, not just the ones above. From there, the spring planting planner and fall planting planner turn the dates into crop lists for Atlanta, and the hardiness zone lookup answers what will overwinter.

Every city covered is on the city frost dates index, sorted by state.

For Georgia, the state planting pages copy the Extension calendar (University of Georgia Cooperative Extension) crop by crop and region by region: tomatoes in Georgia, peppers in Georgia, cucumbers in Georgia, summer squash in Georgia, green beans in Georgia. Set those windows beside the frost dates above.

Where these numbers come from

NOAA's U.S. Climate Normals for 1991–2020 (doi:10.25921/4ek7-fk11) supply every frost date here, unchanged from the station's record, and NOAA's documentation defines the probabilities. The city and its internal point come from the Census Bureau's 2024 Gazetteer of places, and the ranking by size from the Census Bureau's Vintage 2024 city and town population estimates, which put Atlanta at 520,070 people.

Planting dates here are those rules from University of New Hampshire Extension, NC State Extension and University of Georgia Extension, applied to this station's frost dates and nothing else. The methodology page explains how each figure is checked.

NOAA's dates say how often frost has come, not when it will. Check the forecast before planting and keep a cover on hand.