Dolores, CO 81323 Frost Dates
Dolores, CO: when does the frost end?
Around 05/15 is the usual last spring frost, about 260 days away. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/08, roughly 147 days after the last spring frost.
Dolores 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 Dolores's first fall frost, a row cover or cold frame is what stretches the last few weeks of harvest here.
Why 05/15 isn't a guarantee
05/15 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/30 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/31 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Dolores against the rest of the dataset
Dolores's growing season runs about 147 days, ranking 35,942 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within CO, it ranks 347 of 624.
Learn more
Before leaning on 81323's figures: the frost range explains how to read the range around Dolores's dates instead of trusting one, while local microclimates explains what one yard in Dolores can differ from the 81323 normal.