Tempe, AZ 85280 Frost Dates
Tempe, AZ: when does the frost end?
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.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Tempe in Zone 9b (25 to 30°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
With roughly 14 weeks until Tempe'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
02/13 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
At roughly 298 frost-free days, Tempe places 4,195 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within AZ, it ranks 266 of 506.
Learn more
Before leaning on 85280's figures: the frost range explains how to read the range around Tempe's dates instead of trusting one, while local microclimates explains what one yard in Tempe can differ from the 85280 normal.