Tempe, AZ 85202 Frost Dates
85202, near Tempe, AZ: the frost window
Around 02/13 is the usual last spring frost, about 169 days away. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 12/05, roughly 298 days after the last spring frost.
Zone 10a (30 to 35°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 Tempe, not a forecast for this year.
Stretching the season past the first frost
Tempe's growing season runs out in roughly 14 weeks — a cold frame or greenhouse kit is the usual way to keep cool-weather crops going past the first frost.
Why 02/13 isn't a guarantee
02/13 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 01/12 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 03/09 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Tempe against the rest of the dataset
Tempe's growing season runs about 298 days, ranking 4,191 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within AZ, it ranks 262 of 506.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 85202: the frost range, on how to read the range around Tempe's dates instead of trusting one, and local microclimates, on what one yard in Tempe can differ from the 85202 normal.