McCool, Mississippi, sits in USDA hardiness zone 8a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Growers here do well with cabbage, fig, california poppy, and collard greens — with the usual caveat that any single yard's soil, sun, and drainage cast the deciding vote.
Even in McCool, no two yards are alike.
A low spot, a south-facing slope, or a stand of trees moves the frost date and sun across a single McCool lot. Enter your address and we'll score 1,086 plants against your land's actual soil, sun, and frost.
We read public map data around McCool — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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McCool — the short answer
McCool, Mississippi: USDA zone 8a, about 262 days between hard freezes, across 601 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 8a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 5
- Attala County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 22
- Attala County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~262
- Attala County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 601 acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. No 30-year normal resolves at this town’s own centroid, so the hard-freeze dates are Attala County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 8a is McCool's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against McCool's 262-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in McCool
Each reading below is measured for McCool itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsMcCool runs about 262 days between hard freezes (read from Attala County, the closest normal to McCool) — close to year-round growing.
Frost is rarely the limit here; winter plantings are as real as summer ones, and the harder question is which crops shrug off the summer heat.
Grow cool-season crops through the mild winter, and choose heat-tolerant varieties for the summer beds.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredMcCool sits in USDA hardiness zone 8a.
The zone sets which perennials, shrubs, and fruit trees live through an average winter here — a plant rated for a colder zone is a safe bet, one rated warmer needs winter protection or gets treated as an annual.
Match perennials and fruit to the zone before you buy, so nothing you plant is a gamble against the cold.
USDA PHZM 2023
The kind of country McCool is in
McCool sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at McCool's own centroid rather than borrowed from Attala County.
What Grows in McCool
Every plant below cleared McCool's own zone 8a and its 262-day season. Each card opens that plant's Mississippi profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in McCool?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Feb 5; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 5 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 22 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. And with a calendar this mild, the honest answer is that planting barely stops — winter opens seasons colder regions never see.
What's on the federal record near McCool
Closest first, within ~10 miles of McCool. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 007D0025 ATTALANitrate · 1600 ft
- Kountry StoreUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- Hobson's GroceryUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.1 mi
- Percy G RaineyUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.5 mi
- Greenlee Community One StopUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.5 mi
- Black's GroceryUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.5 mi
- H E Turnipseed & SonUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.0 mi
- Sam's Quick StopUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.9 mi
- 019J0001 CHOCTAWNitrate · 5.1 mi
- Barbara FaulknerUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.1 mi
- J M GareyUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.5 mi
- J M & Sons Heating & Air CondUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from McCool's center, not your beds. Run your own address for what's upwind of you specifically.
Environmental Intelligence
The counts behind that headline — every source type on the record near McCool.
Total Sites
41
within ~10 miles of McCool
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
1 Toxics Release Inventory facility
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of McCool
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of McCool
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around McCool, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of McCool — Nitrate (12 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (26 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in McCool
Get exact proximity distances to contamination sources for your specific parcel — plus soil, sun, drainage, and 1,086 plant recommendations.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the McCool average
Your land is one point inside McCool
Everything above resolves to McCool as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 601 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Attala County’s record because no 30-year normal resolves at this town’s own centroid. Your parcel is one point inside that footprint. Slope, tree cover, a low spot that pools cold air, and what is in the soil are all resolved at the address, and none of them are visible at town scale. That is the honest boundary of this page, and the reason the next step is a reading of your own ground rather than a better local average.
Your Lot vs the McCool Average
McCool Average
- ●USDA Zones 8a, averaged across McCool
- ●One soil character for all of McCool
- ●Frost dates read at McCool's scale: Mar 5 to Nov 22
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not McCool's 8a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in McCool
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in McCool, Mississippi — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that McCool averages can't show:
We read public map data around McCool — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the McCool average
How we know this about McCool
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this town’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Attala County’s record, because none resolves here; boundaries and acreage from US Census TIGER/Line 2025; the contamination records from the federal sources named in their beats above. Soil is not read at town grain anywhere on this page — there is no town-resolution survey in our data, which is why you will find no soil grid here rather than a statewide one wearing a local label. The resolution ledger below names every figure this page inherited.
Common questions about McCool
When does frost risk typically end in McCool?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in McCool typically lands around Mar 5, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — earlier than the light-frost dates most charts quote. That marks the hard freeze, not the last light frost — lighter frosts keep biting past it, which is why tender transplants here wait until about Mar 26.
When is the first frost in McCool?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in McCool typically arrives around Nov 22, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 8, so the watching starts about Oct 23 — about 262 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in McCool?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, McCool sees about 262 frost-free days — roughly Mar 5 through Nov 22, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 26 to Nov 8, about 227 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in McCool?
The federal record around McCool is light — 41 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (26), the nearest Nitrate record about 0.3 miles out — and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. Growing food here starts from a strong position; a soil test before new food beds settles any site-specific question.
How do I protect my plants from frost in McCool?
From about Oct 23 the job here turns from planting to protecting — the last start even a 30-day crop can finish. As the season closes around the first 28°F hard freeze near Nov 22 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals), three moves buy time: row cover or an old sheet over tender plants on still, clear nights; water the soil the afternoon before a freeze, so it holds warmth overnight; and harvest tomatoes, peppers and basil before Nov 22. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at McCool's scale — its 8a band and its 262-day season. Your yard writes its own version of McCool's numbers: we read soil, sun, drainage and frost at your exact address. Try it for 14 days — no card required.
What this page reads at McCool’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at McCool's own scale — the 601 acres it covers and 41 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- McCool's own USDA hardiness band, zones 8aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 41 documented contamination sites on the federal record near McCool, the closest Nitrate record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- McCool's boundary and the 601 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 8a and a ~262-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at McCool's own centroid, the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — McCool has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Attala County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so McCool's 601 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Attala County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Attala County
- The growing challenges every Mississippi grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Mississippi
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Attala County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among McCool's 601 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of McCool you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 601 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate record about 0.3 miles out, measured from the town centrehow we read the record →
- Where cold air settles, which slopes face the sun, and which way the wind runs on your own ground — measured at your address, and averaged away by any McCool-wide figureread your own land →
More in Mississippi
Wider growing context
What grows across MississippiMcCool sits outside our named growing regions, so Mississippi as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides