FrostDateCheck

Boulder, CO 80303 Frost Dates

Boulder, CO: when does the frost end?

Zone 6a

Around 05/06 is the usual last spring frost, about 251 days away. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/05, roughly 151 days after the last spring frost.

The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Boulder in Zone 6a (-10 to -5°F average annual minimum); frost dates are NOAA's 1991-2020 station normal, not this year's forecast.

Stretching the season past the first frost

With roughly 5 weeks until Boulder's first fall frost, a row cover or cold frame is what stretches the last few weeks of harvest here.

The actual range around Boulder's last frost

05/06 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/24 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/18 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.

Boulder against the rest of the dataset

At roughly 151 frost-free days, Boulder places 34,934 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within CO, it ranks 304 of 624.

Learn more

Before leaning on 80303's figures: local microclimates explains what one yard in Boulder can differ from the 80303 normal, while zone vs. frost date explains why Zone 6a and Boulder's frost date answer different questions.