Colorado Springs, CO 80942 Frost Dates
80942, near Colorado Springs, CO: the frost window
Around 05/03 is the usual last spring frost, about 248 days away. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/08, roughly 158 days after the last spring frost.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Colorado Springs 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
Colorado Springs'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.
How much risk comes with planting early here
05/03 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/22 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/15 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Colorado Springs against the rest of the dataset
Colorado Springs's growing season runs about 158 days, ranking 32,835 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within CO, it ranks 150 of 624.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 80942: zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 6a and Colorado Springs's frost date answer different questions, and the frost range, on how to read the range around Colorado Springs's dates instead of trusting one.