Rangely, CO 81633 Frost Dates
81633, near Rangely, CO: the frost window
The last spring frost here typically falls around 05/10, about 255 days from today. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/04, roughly 147 days after the last spring frost.
Rangely sits in USDA Zone 5b (-15 to -10°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
Rangely's growing season runs out in roughly 5 weeks — a cold frame or greenhouse kit is the usual way to keep cool-weather crops going past the first frost.
Why 05/10 isn't a guarantee
05/10 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/28 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/27 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Rangely against the rest of the dataset
At roughly 147 frost-free days, Rangely places 35,912 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within CO, it ranks 346 of 624.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 81633: local microclimates, on what one yard in Rangely can differ from the 81633 normal, and zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 5b and Rangely's frost date answer different questions.