Taos, NM 87579 Frost Dates
When can you plant in Taos, NM?
Around 05/19 is the usual last spring frost, about 264 days away. The first fall frost typically arrives around 10/03, about 136 frost-free days later.
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 Taos, not a forecast for this year.
What to do before the first frost
About 5 weeks of growing season left in Taos before the first fall frost — a cold frame or row cover can stretch harvest weeks past that date.
The actual range around Taos's last frost
05/19 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Plant by 05/07 and you're betting against frost in roughly 9 years out of 10. 05/31 is the safer bet, historically only a 1-in-10 chance of frost that late.
How Taos compares
About 136 days separate Taos's last and first frost, putting it 37,678 of 40,283 ZIP codes nationally. Within NM, it ranks 346 of 427.
Learn more
local microclimates covers what one yard in Taos can differ from the 87579 normal. zone vs. frost date covers why Zone 6a and Taos's frost date answer different questions.