Carefree, AZ 85262 Frost Dates
Carefree, AZ: when does the frost end?
The last spring frost here typically falls around 02/04, about 160 days from today. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 12/16, roughly 313 days after the last spring frost.
Carefree sits in USDA Zone 9b (25 to 30°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
With roughly 16 weeks until Carefree's first fall frost, a row cover or cold frame is what stretches the last few weeks of harvest here.
How much risk comes with planting early here
02/04 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 01/03 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.
Carefree against the rest of the dataset
At roughly 313 frost-free days, Carefree places 3,449 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within AZ, it ranks 221 of 506.
Learn more
Before leaning on 85262's figures: local microclimates explains what one yard in Carefree can differ from the 85262 normal, while zone vs. frost date explains why Zone 9b and Carefree's frost date answer different questions.