Buena Vista, CO 81236 Frost Dates
81236, near Buena Vista, CO: the frost window
Around 05/27 is the usual last spring frost, about 272 days away. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 09/23, roughly 116 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 Buena Vista, not a forecast for this year.
Stretching the season past the first frost
Buena Vista's growing season runs out in roughly 4 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
05/27 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 05/13 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 06/11 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Buena Vista against the rest of the dataset
Buena Vista's growing season runs about 116 days, ranking 39,281 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within CO, it ranks 477 of 624.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 81236: the frost range, on how to read the range around Buena Vista's dates instead of trusting one, and local microclimates, on what one yard in Buena Vista can differ from the 81236 normal.