Mississippi climate

Mississippi Plant Hardiness Zones

Mississippi’s towns run from zone 7b to zone 9a: the average coldest winter night is 24.3°F at Pass Christian and 7.7°F at Holly Springs.

Hardiness zones in Mississippi

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 Mississippi, from zone 7b to zone 9b, with the state’s border drawn.
  • 7b
  • 8a
  • 8b
  • 9a
  • 9b

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.

9a Zone 9a, 20 to 25°F 39 towns

8b Zone 8b, 15 to 20°F 144 towns

8a Zone 8a, 10 to 15°F 82 towns

7b Zone 7b, 5 to 10°F 12 towns

Counties

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

CountyZone at the centerAverage coldest night
Adams County8b19.4°F
Alcorn County8a10.6°F
Amite County8b19.2°F
Attala County8a14.2°F
Benton County7b9°F
Bolivar County8b16.7°F
Calhoun County8a11.7°F
Carroll County8a13.1°F
Chickasaw County8a11.7°F
Choctaw County8a14.4°F
Claiborne County8b18.5°F
Clarke County8b16.6°F
Clay County8b15°F
Coahoma County8b15.3°F
Copiah County8b18°F
Covington County8b18.2°F
DeSoto County8a12.2°F
Forrest County8b19.6°F
Franklin County8b18.7°F
George County8b19.8°F
Greene County8b18.2°F
Grenada County8a12.9°F
Hancock County9a21.5°F
Harrison County9a23.3°F
Hinds County8b18°F
Holmes County8a14.3°F
Humphreys County8b18.6°F
Issaquena County8b19.2°F
Itawamba County8a11°F
Jackson County9a21.6°F
Jasper County8b16.2°F
Jefferson County8b19°F
Jefferson Davis County8b18.7°F
Jones County8b18.4°F
Kemper County8b16.1°F
Lafayette County8a10.2°F
Lamar County8b19.5°F
Lauderdale County8b16.3°F
Lawrence County8b18.5°F
Leake County8b15°F
Lee County8a13.7°F
Leflore County8b16.9°F
Lincoln County8b18.1°F
Lowndes County8b15.9°F
Madison County8b17.3°F
Marion County9a20.1°F
Marshall County7b8.2°F
Monroe County8a14.1°F
Montgomery County8a11.5°F
Neshoba County8b15.9°F
Newton County8b15.6°F
Noxubee County8b15.2°F
Oktibbeha County8a14.1°F
Panola County8a12.3°F
Pearl River County9a20.7°F
Perry County8b18.4°F
Pike County8b19.2°F
Pontotoc County8a11.6°F
Prentiss County8a10.9°F
Quitman County8a13.7°F
Rankin County8b17.4°F
Scott County8b15.5°F
Sharkey County8b18.5°F
Simpson County8b16.8°F
Smith County8b15.6°F
Stone County9a20.1°F
Sunflower County8b17.4°F
Tallahatchie County8a14.9°F
Tate County8a11.8°F
Tippah County7b9°F
Tishomingo County7b9.6°F
Tunica County8a14°F
Union County8a11.3°F
Walthall County8b19.3°F
Warren County9a20.2°F
Washington County8b17.6°F
Wayne County8b17.9°F
Webster County8a12.9°F
Wilkinson County9a20.7°F
Winston County8a14.6°F
Yalobusha County8a11.9°F
Yazoo County8b18.5°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
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
9a20 to 25°F-6.7 to -3.9°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.