Fairplay, CO 80432 Frost Dates
80432, near Fairplay, CO: the frost window
Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 06/15, roughly 291 days out. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 09/09, roughly 84 days after the last spring frost.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Fairplay in Zone 5a (-20 to -15°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
Fairplay's growing season runs out in roughly 2 weeks — a cold frame or greenhouse kit is the usual way to keep cool-weather crops going past the first frost.
Why 06/15 isn't a guarantee
06/15 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 06/01 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 06/30 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Fairplay against the rest of the dataset
At roughly 84 frost-free days, Fairplay places 40,003 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within CO, it ranks 559 of 624.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 80432: the frost range, on how to read the range around Fairplay's dates instead of trusting one, and local microclimates, on what one yard in Fairplay can differ from the 80432 normal.