Payson, AZ 85553 Frost Dates
85553, near Payson, AZ: the frost window
The last spring frost here typically falls around 01/17, about 142 days from today. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 12/25, roughly 342 days after the last spring frost.
Zone 9a (20 to 25°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 Payson, not a forecast for this year.
Stretching the season past the first frost
Payson'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.
Why 01/17 isn't a guarantee
01/17 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 02/18 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 12/21 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Payson against the rest of the dataset
At roughly 342 frost-free days, Payson places 2,556 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within AZ, it ranks 139 of 506.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 85553: zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 9a and Payson's frost date answer different questions, and the frost range, on how to read the range around Payson's dates instead of trusting one.