Taos, NM 87543 Frost Dates
87543, near Taos, NM: the frost window
Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 05/19, roughly 264 days out. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/03, roughly 136 days after the last spring frost.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Taos 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
Taos's growing season runs out in roughly 5 weeks — a cold frame or greenhouse kit is the usual way to keep cool-weather crops going past the first frost.
How much risk comes with planting early here
05/19 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 05/07 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/31 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Taos against the rest of the dataset
Taos's growing season runs about 136 days, ranking 37,673 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within NM, it ranks 341 of 427.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 87543: zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 6a and Taos's frost date answer different questions, and the frost range, on how to read the range around Taos's dates instead of trusting one.