Benson, AZ 85602 Frost Dates
85602, near Benson, AZ: the frost window
Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 04/12, roughly 227 days out. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 11/01, roughly 202 days after the last spring frost.
Benson sits in USDA Zone 8b (15 to 20°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
Benson's growing season runs out in roughly 9 weeks — a cold frame or greenhouse kit is the usual way to keep cool-weather crops going past the first frost.
Why 04/12 isn't a guarantee
04/12 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 03/26 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 04/29 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Benson against the rest of the dataset
Benson's growing season runs about 202 days, ranking 17,224 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within AZ, it ranks 381 of 506.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 85602: zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 8b and Benson's frost date answer different questions, and the frost range, on how to read the range around Benson's dates instead of trusting one.