Huntsville, AL Frost Dates: Last Spring and First Fall Frost

In a typical year the final freeze of spring reaches Huntsville around March 24, and the first freeze of autumn returns around November 8. NOAA's normals call the frost-free stretch between them 229 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 8, 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 Huntsville is close to it.

Behind every date on this page is one weather station, Huntsville International AP (NOAA USW00003856), 7.3 miles south-west of Huntsville's internal point in the Census Bureau's files and about 620 feet up.

When is the last frost in Huntsville?

One year in ten has a freeze on or after April 8. In nine years out of ten there is still a freeze on or after March 4, and half of years see one on or after March 24.

The early and late dates are 35 days apart, about the spread most cities on these pages show.

First fall frost in Huntsville

NOAA's early fall date for Huntsville is October 27, its even-odds date is November 8 and its late date is November 25; the first freeze has come by each of them in one, five and nine years out of ten.

Fall dates in Huntsville spread over 29 days, about the same as the middle of the 100 cities on these pages.

The growing season in Huntsville

Neither long nor short next to the other cities here. A short year costs just 21 days against a typical one (208 days against 229 days), so a season-length plan for Huntsville holds up in most years.

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 Huntsville

NOAA's even-odds hard freeze dates for Huntsville are November 20 in fall and March 10 in spring, 12 days and 14 days from the matching 32°F dates. The late 28°F spring date, March 29, 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.

What this means for planting in Huntsville

In Huntsville the University of New Hampshire Extension count lands like this, measured from the typical last frost on March 24: lettuce from February 24 to March 3, cabbage on February 24, seed potatoes from March 10 to March 17, then peppers on April 7 and beans from 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.

Counting from the late date, April 8, instead of the typical one delays every after-frost crop by 15 days. That is the price of a one-in-ten spring that most years will not need.

Fall crops are counted back from the first frost, using NC State Extension's days to harvest plus University of Georgia Extension's harvest allowance of 18 days. In Huntsville only 32 of the 34 crops in the fall planner have a last planting day in July or later, and the other 2 would have to go in before then, in spring or early summer. 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: the last day for fall broccoli in Huntsville

Broccoli transplants need up to 80 days to reach harvest by NC State Extension's table, and University of Georgia Extension adds 18 days to harvest, so 98 days must pass before frost. In Huntsville the last planting day is August 2 against the typical first frost on November 8, and July 21 against the early date on October 27.

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

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 24 puts cabbage out on February 24.

The weather station behind these dates

At 7.3 miles south-west, the station is some distance from Huntsville, so parts of the city may not match its record.

At about 620 feet, it ranks above 46 and below 53 of the 100 stations used for these pages. In NOAA's file the record is marked S, meaning standard.

No elevation is available for Huntsville in the Census data we saved, so the station's height may or may not match your garden's. Compare nearby stations in the frost dates tool if it does not, and err toward the colder dates.

How Huntsville's frost dates compare

The nearest city on these pages is Nashville, TN, 102 miles away, and the other two below are farther out, so these are regional comparisons, not neighbors.

• Nashville, TN lies 102 miles north of Huntsville. Typical last frost April 1, first frost October 31, 213 days between; its last frost comes 8 days after Huntsville's, and it has 16 days less without frost.
• Atlanta, GA, 144 miles to the south-east: last frost March 24, first frost November 8, 231 days frost-free; its last frost falls within a few days of Huntsville's, and frost-free days differ from Huntsville's by less than a week.
• Columbus, GA lies 183 miles south-east of Huntsville. Typical last frost March 21, first frost November 11, 238 days between; its last frost falls within a few days of Huntsville's, and the season runs 9 days longer.

Next steps for Huntsville gardeners

To go beyond the crops above, use the spring planting planner and fall planting planner, both set to this station. The frost dates tool shows the full odds for Huntsville, and the hardiness zone lookup gives the winter-cold zone for your ZIP code.

Looking for another city? The city frost dates index lists every page, grouped by state.

For Alabama, the state planting pages copy the Extension calendar (Alabama Cooperative Extension System) crop by crop and region by region: tomatoes in Alabama, peppers in Alabama, cucumbers in Alabama, summer squash in Alabama, green beans in Alabama. 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 Huntsville at 230,402 people.

University of New Hampshire Extension, NC State Extension and University of Georgia Extension supply the planting rules; this page only counts them from the station's dates. Our methodology describes the tests behind every number.

Frost dates are long-term odds, not a forecast. Before you plant, check the local forecast for the coming week, and keep row cover or old sheets handy for the nights the odds get wrong.