Cottonwood, AZ 86326 Frost Dates
When can you plant in Cottonwood, AZ?
Around 03/30 is the usual last spring frost, about 214 days away. The first fall frost typically arrives around 11/10, about 223 frost-free days later.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Cottonwood in Zone 8b (15 to 20°F average annual minimum); frost dates are NOAA's 1991-2020 station normal, not this year's forecast.
What to do before the first frost
About 11 weeks of growing season left in Cottonwood before the first fall frost — a cold frame or row cover can stretch harvest weeks past that date.
The actual range around Cottonwood's last frost
03/30 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Plant by 03/09 and you're betting against frost in roughly 9 years out of 10. 04/21 is the safer bet, historically only a 1-in-10 chance of frost that late.
How Cottonwood compares
At roughly 223 frost-free days, Cottonwood places 12,042 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within AZ, it ranks 344 of 506.
Learn more
the frost range covers how to read the range around Cottonwood's dates instead of trusting one. local microclimates covers what one yard in Cottonwood can differ from the 86326 normal.