Grand Prairie, TX Frost Dates: Last Spring and First Fall Frost

The last spring frost in Grand Prairie, TX comes on March 20 in a typical year, and the first fall frost follows on November 13, leaving a frost-free season of 236 days.

Even odds are a coin toss, so plan around the safer edges: one spring in ten still has a freeze on or after April 8, and one fall in ten has its first freeze by October 27. At 236 days, Grand Prairie's typical season sits close to the 229 days median of the 100 cities on these pages.

The numbers belong to Joe Pool Lake, NOAA station USC00414597, which sits 4.1 miles south-east of the Census Bureau's internal point for Grand Prairie at an elevation of about 590 feet.

Last spring frost in Grand Prairie

NOAA gives February 28 as the date a spring freeze is still ahead in nine years out of ten, March 20 as the date it is still ahead in half of them, and April 8 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 Grand Prairie?

A first freeze on or before October 27 happens one fall in ten. By November 13 half of years have had one, and by December 3 nine years in ten have.

The fall dates spread over 37 days, wider than for most cities on these pages. One year in ten brings the first freeze 17 days ahead of the typical date.

Grand Prairie's frost-free season

That is close to the middle of the cities covered here. A typical year gives 236 days, but nine years in ten still give at least 209 days; 27 days separate the two, a larger swing than most cities here show, so a crop that needs the full typical season is a gamble in Grand Prairie.

These figures are NOAA's own counts of freeze-free days across its simulated years, which is why they can differ a little from the days between the two typical dates. A night at or below 32°F happens in 100% of years at this station, so frost is a yearly event here.

When a hard freeze reaches Grand Prairie

The typical 28°F night comes on November 25 in fall, 12 days after the first 32°F frost, and the last one comes on March 8 in spring, 12 days before the last 32°F frost. The late 28°F spring date, March 25, is the one that still catches blooms and young transplants one year in ten, and the early fall date, November 3, is when a hard freeze has arrived in one fall out of ten.

Planting dates for Grand Prairie, counted from the frost dates

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 20, cabbage transplants go in on February 20 and lettuce from February 20 to February 27. Tender crops wait until it has passed, with peppers going out on April 3 and beans sown on or after March 20. Peas are the exception to the count: University of New Hampshire Extension says to plant them as soon as the soil thaws, whatever the frost date.

The late date comes 19 days after the typical one; choose it for plants you cannot cover.

Grand Prairie'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. The slowest crop that still fits is collard greens, at 118 days, and it has to be planted by July 1 to beat the early date.

Worked example: planting broccoli for fall in Grand Prairie

Take fall broccoli in Grand Prairie. NC State Extension lists up to 80 days from transplant to harvest, and University of Georgia Extension adds a harvest allowance of 18 days, so the plants need 98 days before the first frost. Counting back from the typical first frost, November 13, the last planting day is August 7. Counting back from the early date, October 27, it is July 21.

The two answers are 17 days apart, a wide enough gap that the early date is the safer one to follow in Grand Prairie.

Spring is the other end of the same arithmetic: University of New Hampshire Extension sets cabbage-family transplants out two to four weeks before the last frost, which from March 20 puts cabbage out on February 20.

The weather station behind these dates

The nearest usable station stands 4.1 miles south-east of Grand Prairie's internal point, near the city but not in it.

Its elevation is about 590 feet. Of the 100 stations behind these pages, 56 sit higher and 43 lower. Its completeness flag is R, which NOAA uses for a representative record.

Because the Census file has no elevation for Grand Prairie, we cannot say how far your yard is above or below this station. When yours is clearly higher or lower, open the nearby stations in the frost dates tool and favor the colder one.

How Grand Prairie's frost dates compare

Grand Prairie sits in a cluster: Arlington, TX is only 6.1 miles away, and the other two cities below are not much farther, so gaps in their dates come from local setting.

• Arlington, TX, 6.1 miles to the west: last frost March 9, first frost November 21, 256 days frost-free; its last frost comes 11 days before Grand Prairie's, and it has 20 days more without frost.
• Irving, TX (12 miles, north): spring frost ends 12 days sooner than in Grand Prairie, and the season runs 26 days longer. Its typical dates are March 8 and November 24, with 262 days frost-free.
• Dallas, TX lies 17 miles north-east of Grand Prairie. Typical last frost March 2, first frost November 29, 272 days between; its last frost comes 18 days before Grand Prairie's, and it has 36 days more without frost.

Next steps for Grand Prairie gardeners

Open the frost dates tool with this station already chosen to see the whole ladder of probability dates, or try the nearby stations in the same list. The spring planting planner and the fall planting planner turn the same dates into a full crop list, and the hardiness zone lookup tells you which perennials will survive the winter.

All the cities on these pages are listed by state on the city frost dates index.

For Texas, the state planting pages copy the Extension calendar (Texas A&M AgriLife Extension) crop by crop and region by region: tomatoes in Texas, peppers in Texas, cucumbers in Texas, summer squash in Texas, green beans in Texas. Set those windows beside the frost dates above.

Where these numbers come from

Every frost and freeze date comes from the station's entry in NOAA's U.S. Climate Normals for 1991–2020 (doi:10.25921/4ek7-fk11), with no adjustment, and NOAA's documentation explains what each probability means. 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 Grand Prairie at 207,331 people.

The planting dates apply the count rules in University of New Hampshire Extension, NC State Extension and University of Georgia Extension to this station's dates, with nothing added. Our methodology describes the tests behind every number.

These dates describe odds over many years, not next week's weather. Look at the forecast before you plant, and keep a sheet or row cover ready for a night that does not follow the odds.