Cortez, CO 81334 Frost Dates
Frost dates for Cortez, CO, ZIP 81334
The last spring frost here typically falls around 05/27, about 272 days from today. The first fall frost typically arrives around 09/28, about 125 frost-free days later.
Zone 7a (0 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 Cortez, not a forecast for this year.
What to do before the first frost
Zone 7a around Cortez has about 4 weeks left before the first fall frost — that's the usual window to get a cold frame up if you want to keep harvesting past it.
The actual range around Cortez's last frost
05/27 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Plant by 05/09 and you're betting against frost in roughly 9 years out of 10. 06/11 is the safer bet, historically only a 1-in-10 chance of frost that late.
How Cortez compares
About 125 days separate Cortez's last and first frost, putting it 38,749 of 40,283 ZIP codes nationally. Within CO, it ranks 453 of 624.
Learn more
zone vs. frost date explains why Zone 7a and Cortez's frost date answer different questions, and the frost range explains how to read the range around Cortez's dates instead of trusting one.