Chama, NM 87515 Frost Dates
87515, near Chama, NM: the frost window
The last spring frost here typically falls around 04/29, about 244 days from today. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/16, roughly 168 days after the last spring frost.
Chama sits in USDA Zone 6a (-10 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
Chama's growing season runs out in roughly 7 weeks — a cold frame or greenhouse kit is the usual way to keep cool-weather crops going past the first frost.
Why 04/29 isn't a guarantee
04/29 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/16 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/17 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Chama against the rest of the dataset
About 168 days separate Chama's last and first frost, putting it 29,743 of 40,283 ZIP codes nationally. Within NM, it ranks 216 of 427.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 87515: zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 6a and Chama's frost date answer different questions, and the frost range, on how to read the range around Chama's dates instead of trusting one.