Rio Communities, NM 87023 Frost Dates
87023, near Rio Communities, NM: the frost window
The last spring frost here typically falls around 04/12, about 227 days from today. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/27, roughly 196 days after the last spring frost.
Rio Communities sits in USDA Zone 7a (0 to 5°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
Rio Communities'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 03/29 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.
Rio Communities against the rest of the dataset
About 196 days separate Rio Communities's last and first frost, putting it 18,961 of 40,283 ZIP codes nationally. Within NM, it ranks 132 of 427.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 87023: local microclimates, on what one yard in Rio Communities can differ from the 87023 normal, and zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 7a and Rio Communities's frost date answer different questions.