Peralta, NM 87031 Frost Dates
87031, near Peralta, NM: the frost window
The last spring frost here typically falls around 04/06, about 221 days from today. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 11/03, roughly 208 days after the last spring frost.
Zone 7b (5 to 10°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 Peralta, not a forecast for this year.
Stretching the season past the first frost
Peralta's growing season runs out in roughly 10 weeks — a cold frame or greenhouse kit is the usual way to keep cool-weather crops going past the first frost.
Why 04/06 isn't a guarantee
04/06 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 03/17 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 04/23 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Peralta against the rest of the dataset
Peralta's growing season runs about 208 days, ranking 15,614 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within NM, it ranks 120 of 427.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 87031: local microclimates, on what one yard in Peralta can differ from the 87031 normal, and zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 7b and Peralta's frost date answer different questions.