This time of year, my inbox starts filling up with emails and DMs asking the same question: Are we finally done with freezing temperatures in Houston?<\/p>\n
I get it. Everyone\u2019s ready to break out the shovels and plant those gorgeous tropicals that love our Texas heat. But no one wants to drop good money on plants that could get wiped out by one last dip to 32\u00b0.<\/p>\n
Before we answer the big question, let\u2019s zoom out for a little perspective. Looking back over the last six years, we\u2019ve only had one<\/b> March freeze. That was back on March 12th and 13th of 2022, when temperatures fell to 32\u00b0.<\/p>\n
So\u2026 March freezes are possible but they\u2019re definitely not the norm.<\/p>\n
The latest freeze the past six years was March 13, 2022 (Copyright 2026 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.)<\/p>\n
Climatology is on our side here. On average, Houston\u2019s last freeze happens around Feb. 15th and that\u2019s based on records going all the way back to 1889.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s interesting is if you zoom in on just the last 30 years, that date one day later. Feb. 16th. <\/p>\n
Down at Hobby Airport, the average last freeze over the past 30 years is Jan. 26th, almost three weeks earlier. And the reason? Those roughly 25 miles between Hobby and Bush make a big difference when cold air is involved.<\/p>\n
In other words, location matters; the closer you are to the coast, the less likely you\u2019ll get a freeze in March. <\/p>\n
Big difference between north and south Houston (Copyright 2026 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.)<\/p>\n
The danger with averages is that they can lull you into a false sense of security. Most years behave nicely\u2026 until one doesn\u2019t. Like 2022, when we managed to sneak in a freeze in mid-March and ruin a few planting plans.<\/p>\n
And then there\u2019s the extreme outlier that still makes gardeners shudder. 1973. Can you believe the latest freeze ever recorded in Houston happened on April 10th, 1973?<\/p>\n
That\u2019s the reminder: averages are helpful, but Houston weather doesn\u2019t always stick to the script.<\/p>\n
Was April 10, 1973 (Copyright 2026 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.)<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t need to tell you our climate today is much warmer than it was back in the 1970s. That\u2019s why I don\u2019t expect Houston to see another freeze as late as April again. <\/p>\n
Take a look at the graphic below from Climate Central. Since 1970, Houston has averaged 20 fewer freezing nights. That\u2019s a big shift and it lines up with what we\u2019ve all felt over the years: winters just aren\u2019t as cold or as long as they used to be.<\/p>\n
20 fewer nights since 1970 (Copyright 2026 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.)<\/p>\n
I think the graphic below is fascinating. It shows the first and last freezing dates in Houston going all the way back to 1890. The early 1970s really jump off the page.<\/p>\n
What the graphic doesn\u2019t show, though, is just how many freezing days we racked up in the 70s and 80s. Those were legitimately cold decades around here. Freezes were more frequent, winters were longer, and cold air had staying power.<\/p>\n
Since then, the trend has been pretty clear: fewer freezes overall, the first freeze coming later in the year, and the last freeze ending earlier in the season. In other words, winter\u2019s window has been shrinking, and Houston has been warming right along with it. <\/p>\n
This graphics goes back to the 1800s (Copyright 2026 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.)<\/p>\n
So\u2026 should you plant? Here\u2019s my general rule for Houston: wait until spring break shows up in the forecast.<\/p>\n
Strong cold fronts can still sneak in this time of year. Right now, there are no freezes showing up in the 10-day forecast, but take a look at Tuesday\u2019s forecast below. Our weekend cold front knocks temperatures down into the 40s here in Houston, while parts of the southeastern U.S. drop to freezing. With slightly different steering, that cold air could\u2019ve easily been aimed at us.<\/p>\n
The good news? Spring break does show up in the 10-day forecast on March 1st. That\u2019s my green light.<\/p>\n
So, if you\u2019ve been itching to plant, you\u2019re almost there. Just a little patience and then\u2026 happy planting.<\/p>\n
Our weekend front lowers temperatures to the 40s but the southeastern U.S. will fall to freezing (Copyright 2026 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.)Anthony’s Weather Lab<\/p>\n
More Stories Like This In Our Email Newsletter<\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This time of year, my inbox starts filling up with emails and DMs asking the same question: Are…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":610533,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5130],"tags":[1599,193974,4345,5471,358,3187],"class_list":["post-610532","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-forecast","tag-freezing","tag-houston","tag-houston-weather","tag-texas","tag-tx"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116120251590745188","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/610532","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=610532"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/610532\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/610533"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=610532"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=610532"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=610532"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}