Cave Creek, AZ 85086 Frost Dates
Frost dates for Cave Creek, AZ, ZIP 85086
Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 02/04, roughly 160 days out. The first fall frost typically arrives around 12/16, about 313 frost-free days later.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Cave Creek in Zone 9b (25 to 30°F average annual minimum); frost dates are NOAA's 1991-2020 station normal, not this year's forecast.
What to do before the first frost
Zone 9b around Cave Creek has about 16 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.
How much risk comes with planting early here
02/04 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Plant by 01/03 and you're betting against frost in roughly 9 years out of 10. 03/09 is the safer bet, historically only a 1-in-10 chance of frost that late.
How Cave Creek compares
About 313 days separate Cave Creek's last and first frost, putting it 3,445 of 40,283 ZIP codes nationally. Within AZ, it ranks 217 of 506.
Learn more
zone vs. frost date explains why Zone 9b and Cave Creek's frost date answer different questions, and the frost range explains how to read the range around Cave Creek's dates instead of trusting one.