Willcox, AZ 85643 Frost Dates
85643, near Willcox, AZ: the frost window
Around 04/09 is the usual last spring frost, about 224 days away. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/31, roughly 204 days after the last spring frost.
Zone 8b (15 to 20°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 Willcox, not a forecast for this year.
Stretching the season past the first frost
Willcox'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.
How much risk comes with planting early here
04/09 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 03/20 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.
Willcox against the rest of the dataset
Willcox's growing season runs about 204 days, ranking 16,601 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within AZ, it ranks 379 of 506.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 85643: local microclimates, on what one yard in Willcox can differ from the 85643 normal, and zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 8b and Willcox's frost date answer different questions.