Quartzsite, AZ 85348 Frost Dates
85348, near Quartzsite, AZ: the frost window
Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 02/18, roughly 174 days out. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 11/28, roughly 284 days after the last spring frost.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Quartzsite in Zone 9a (20 to 25°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
Quartzsite's growing season runs out in roughly 13 weeks — a cold frame or greenhouse kit is the usual way to keep cool-weather crops going past the first frost.
How much risk comes with planting early here
02/18 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 01/24 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 03/12 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Quartzsite against the rest of the dataset
Quartzsite's growing season runs about 284 days, ranking 4,693 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within AZ, it ranks 286 of 506.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 85348: local microclimates, on what one yard in Quartzsite can differ from the 85348 normal, and zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 9a and Quartzsite's frost date answer different questions.