FrostDateCheck

Grand Junction, CO 81504 Frost Dates

81504, near Grand Junction, CO: the frost window

Zone 7a

The last spring frost here typically falls around 04/23, about 238 days from today. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/20, roughly 179 days after the last spring frost.

Grand Junction sits in USDA Zone 7a (0 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

Grand Junction's growing season runs out in roughly 8 weeks — a cold frame or greenhouse kit is the usual way to keep cool-weather crops going past the first frost.

Why 04/23 isn't a guarantee

04/23 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/06 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/09 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.

Grand Junction against the rest of the dataset

Grand Junction's growing season runs about 179 days, ranking 25,144 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within CO, it ranks 4 of 624.

Learn more

Two guides worth reading on 81504: the frost range, on how to read the range around Grand Junction's dates instead of trusting one, and local microclimates, on what one yard in Grand Junction can differ from the 81504 normal.