Coal Creek, CO 81253 Frost Dates
81253, near Coal Creek, CO: the frost window
Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 04/26, roughly 241 days out. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/13, roughly 166 days after the last spring frost.
Coal Creek 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
Coal Creek's growing season runs out in roughly 7 weeks — a cold frame or greenhouse kit is the usual way to keep cool-weather crops going past the first frost.
Why 04/26 isn't a guarantee
04/26 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/13 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/08 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Coal Creek against the rest of the dataset
Coal Creek's growing season runs about 166 days, ranking 30,440 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within CO, it ranks 33 of 624.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 81253: the frost range, on how to read the range around Coal Creek's dates instead of trusting one, and local microclimates, on what one yard in Coal Creek can differ from the 81253 normal.