Tucson, AZ 85751 Frost Dates
Tucson, AZ: when does the frost end?
The last spring frost here typically falls around 01/26, about 151 days from today. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 12/16, roughly 326 days after the last spring frost.
Zone 9b (25 to 30°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 Tucson, not a forecast for this year.
Stretching the season past the first frost
With roughly 16 weeks until Tucson'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
01/26 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 02/25 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 12/24 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Tucson against the rest of the dataset
About 326 days separate Tucson's last and first frost, putting it 3,210 of 40,283 ZIP codes nationally. Within AZ, it ranks 198 of 506.
Learn more
Before leaning on 85751's figures: the frost range explains how to read the range around Tucson's dates instead of trusting one, while local microclimates explains what one yard in Tucson can differ from the 85751 normal.