FrostDateCheck

Estes Park, CO 80517 Frost Dates

Frost dates for Estes Park, CO, ZIP 80517

Zone 5a

Around 05/30 is the usual last spring frost, about 275 days away. The first fall frost typically arrives around 09/17, about 109 frost-free days later.

Zone 5a (-20 to -15°F average annual minimum) comes from the USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map; the frost dates above are the 1991-2020 normal at the nearest reporting NOAA station for Estes Park, not a forecast for this year.

What to do before the first frost

Zone 5a around Estes Park has about 3 weeks left before the first fall frost — that's the usual window to get a cold frame up if you want to keep harvesting past it.

Why 05/30 isn't a guarantee

05/30 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Plant by 05/15 and you're betting against frost in roughly 9 years out of 10. 06/14 is the safer bet, historically only a 1-in-10 chance of frost that late.

How Estes Park compares

At roughly 109 frost-free days, Estes Park places 39,522 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within CO, it ranks 509 of 624.

Learn more

the frost range explains how to read the range around Estes Park's dates instead of trusting one, and local microclimates explains what one yard in Estes Park can differ from the 80517 normal.