Otis, CO 80743 Frost Dates
80743, near Otis, CO: the frost window
The last spring frost here typically falls around 05/08, about 253 days from today. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/06, roughly 149 days after the last spring frost.
Zone 5b (-15 to -10°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 Otis, not a forecast for this year.
Stretching the season past the first frost
Otis's growing season runs out in roughly 6 weeks — a cold frame or greenhouse kit is the usual way to keep cool-weather crops going past the first frost.
Why 05/08 isn't a guarantee
05/08 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/27 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/22 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Otis against the rest of the dataset
At roughly 149 frost-free days, Otis places 35,557 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within CO, it ranks 338 of 624.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 80743: the frost range, on how to read the range around Otis's dates instead of trusting one, and local microclimates, on what one yard in Otis can differ from the 80743 normal.