Estancia, NM 87032 Frost Dates
Estancia, NM: when does the frost end?
Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 05/18, roughly 263 days out. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/01, roughly 135 days after the last spring frost.
Zone 6a (-10 to -5°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 Estancia, not a forecast for this year.
Stretching the season past the first frost
With roughly 5 weeks until Estancia's first fall frost, a row cover or cold frame is what stretches the last few weeks of harvest here.
Why 05/18 isn't a guarantee
05/18 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 05/05 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 06/02 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Estancia against the rest of the dataset
Estancia's growing season runs about 135 days, ranking 37,887 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within NM, it ranks 351 of 427.
Learn more
Before leaning on 87032's figures: local microclimates explains what one yard in Estancia can differ from the 87032 normal, while zone vs. frost date explains why Zone 6a and Estancia's frost date answer different questions.