Gallup, NM 87301 Frost Dates
87301, near Gallup, NM: the frost window
Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 05/31, roughly 276 days out. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 09/28, roughly 119 days after the last spring frost.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Gallup in Zone 6a (-10 to -5°F average annual minimum); frost dates are NOAA's 1991-2020 station normal, not this year's forecast.
Stretching the season past the first frost
Gallup's growing season runs out in roughly 4 weeks — a cold frame or greenhouse kit is the usual way to keep cool-weather crops going past the first frost.
The actual range around Gallup's last frost
05/31 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 05/15 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 06/14 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Gallup against the rest of the dataset
At roughly 119 frost-free days, Gallup places 39,124 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within NM, it ranks 381 of 427.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 87301: local microclimates, on what one yard in Gallup can differ from the 87301 normal, and zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 6a and Gallup's frost date answer different questions.