Branson, CO 81081 Frost Dates
81081, near Branson, CO: the frost window
Around 05/21 is the usual last spring frost, about 266 days away. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 09/29, roughly 128 days after the last spring frost.
Zone 6a (-10 to -5°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 Branson, not a forecast for this year.
Stretching the season past the first frost
Branson's growing season runs out in roughly 5 weeks — a cold frame or greenhouse kit is the usual way to keep cool-weather crops going past the first frost.
The actual range around Branson's last frost
05/21 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 05/08 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 06/04 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Branson against the rest of the dataset
At roughly 128 frost-free days, Branson places 38,593 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within CO, it ranks 449 of 624.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 81081: the frost range, on how to read the range around Branson's dates instead of trusting one, and local microclimates, on what one yard in Branson can differ from the 81081 normal.