FrostDateCheck

Avondale, AZ 85261 Frost Dates

85261, near Avondale, AZ: the frost window

Zone 10a

Around 01/14 is the usual last spring frost, about 139 days away. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 12/22, roughly 343 days after the last spring frost.

The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Avondale in Zone 10a (30 to 35°F average annual minimum); frost dates are NOAA's 1991-2020 station normal, not this year's forecast.

Stretching the season past the first frost

Avondale's growing season runs out in roughly 17 weeks — a cold frame or greenhouse kit is the usual way to keep cool-weather crops going past the first frost.

The actual range around Avondale's last frost

01/14 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 02/12 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 12/19 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.

Avondale against the rest of the dataset

Avondale's growing season runs about 343 days, ranking 2,499 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within AZ, it ranks 113 of 506.

Learn more

Two guides worth reading on 85261: zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 10a and Avondale's frost date answer different questions, and the frost range, on how to read the range around Avondale's dates instead of trusting one.