Arkansas climate

Arkansas Plant Hardiness Zones

Arkansas’s towns run from zone 7a to zone 8b: the average coldest winter night is 17.8°F at Eudora and 1.1°F at Garfield.

Hardiness zones in Arkansas

In USDA’s colors, neighboring states washed out. Zones follow elevation, coasts and cities down to half a mile. Drawn by WeatherOverTime from the USDA-ARS and Oregon State University PRISM Climate Group 2023 GIS data; this is not the official USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map.

Map of the 2023 plant hardiness zones across Arkansas, from zone 7a to zone 8b, with the state’s border drawn.
  • 7a
  • 7b
  • 8a
  • 8b

Open the live map with plant hardiness zones

Towns by zone

Each town’s 1991-2020 average annual extreme minimum at its center, read from the map’s 800 m grid. Warmest zone first.

8b Zone 8b, 15 to 20°F 38 towns

8a Zone 8a, 10 to 15°F 179 towns

7b Zone 7b, 5 to 10°F 44 towns

7a Zone 7a, 0 to 5°F 44 towns

Counties

At the county’s center; a county with hills or a coast spans several zones.

CountyZone at the centerAverage coldest night
Arkansas County8b16.1°F
Ashley County8b15.7°F
Baxter County7b5.6°F
Benton County7a3.2°F
Boone County7a4.9°F
Bradley County8b15.1°F
Calhoun County8a14.4°F
Carroll County7a3.6°F
Chicot County8b17.1°F
Clark County8a13.2°F
Clay County7b8.1°F
Cleburne County7b9.7°F
Cleveland County8a14.1°F
Columbia County8b15.7°F
Conway County8a10.2°F
Craighead County8a11°F
Crawford County7b7.1°F
Crittenden County8a12.6°F
Cross County8a12.7°F
Dallas County8a13.3°F
Desha County8b16.4°F
Drew County8b16.1°F
Faulkner County8a10.5°F
Franklin County8a10.1°F
Fulton County7a3.9°F
Garland County8a11.6°F
Grant County8a12.1°F
Greene County7b9.1°F
Hempstead County8a14.4°F
Hot Spring County8a12.7°F
Howard County8a12°F
Independence County7b9.7°F
Izard County7b5.6°F
Jackson County8a11.9°F
Jefferson County8b15.7°F
Johnson County8a10.2°F
Lafayette County8b16°F
Lawrence County8a10.1°F
Lee County8a13.7°F
Lincoln County8b16.4°F
Little River County8b15.6°F
Logan County8a10.8°F
Lonoke County8a14°F
Madison County7a4.4°F
Marion County7b5.7°F
Miller County8b16°F
Mississippi County8a11°F
Monroe County8a14.6°F
Montgomery County7b9.7°F
Nevada County8a14.3°F
Newton County7a4.5°F
Ouachita County8a14.6°F
Perry County8a11°F
Phillips County8a14.9°F
Pike County8a10.7°F
Poinsett County8a11.6°F
Polk County8a11.6°F
Pope County7b9.9°F
Prairie County8a14°F
Pulaski County8a12.7°F
Randolph County7b5.5°F
Saline County8a13.2°F
Scott County8a10°F
Searcy County7a4.9°F
Sebastian County8a10.6°F
Sevier County8a13°F
Sharp County7a4.9°F
St. Francis County8a12.6°F
Stone County7b7.1°F
Union County8b15.8°F
Van Buren County7b8.3°F
Washington County7a4.2°F
White County8a11.3°F
Woodruff County8a12.7°F
Yell County7b9.1°F

The zones

A plant hardiness zone is set by the average of each winter’s single coldest temperature, 1991 to 2020: zones are 10°F apart and each half zone, a and b, 5°F. It says how cold a winter night usually gets, not the coldest it has ever been, and nothing about summer heat, rain or soil. Plant labels give the coldest zone a perennial survives in.

ZoneAverage coldest nightIn Celsius
7a0 to 5°F-17.8 to -15.0°C
7b5 to 10°F-15.0 to -12.2°C
8a10 to 15°F-12.2 to -9.4°C
8b15 to 20°F-9.4 to -6.7°C

Sources

Hardiness zones: USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map, 2023, Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, from the GIS data of the PRISM Climate Group, Oregon State University, which may be freely reproduced and redistributed. Drawn by WeatherOverTime from the USDA-ARS and Oregon State University PRISM Climate Group 2023 GIS data; this is not the official USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map.