Swink, CO 81077 Frost Dates
Swink, CO: when does the frost end?
Around 05/01 is the usual last spring frost, about 246 days away. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/08, roughly 159 days after the last spring frost.
Swink sits in USDA Zone 6a (-10 to -5°F average annual minimum). The dates above are NOAA's 1991-2020 normal at the nearest reporting station, a 30-year average, not a forecast.
Stretching the season past the first frost
With roughly 6 weeks until Swink's first fall frost, a row cover or cold frame is what stretches the last few weeks of harvest here.
Why 05/01 isn't a guarantee
05/01 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/20 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/14 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Swink against the rest of the dataset
Swink's growing season runs about 159 days, ranking 32,724 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within CO, it ranks 126 of 624.
Learn more
Before leaning on 81077's figures: zone vs. frost date explains why Zone 6a and Swink's frost date answer different questions, while the frost range explains how to read the range around Swink's dates instead of trusting one.