Mesilla, NM 88003 Frost Dates
Mesilla, NM: when does the frost end?
Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 03/12, roughly 196 days out. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 11/13, roughly 241 days after the last spring frost.
Mesilla sits in USDA Zone 8b (15 to 20°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
With roughly 11 weeks until Mesilla's first fall frost, a row cover or cold frame is what stretches the last few weeks of harvest here.
How much risk comes with planting early here
03/12 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 02/23 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 04/02 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Mesilla against the rest of the dataset
Mesilla's growing season runs about 241 days, ranking 8,570 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within NM, it ranks 14 of 427.
Learn more
Before leaning on 88003's figures: local microclimates explains what one yard in Mesilla can differ from the 88003 normal, while zone vs. frost date explains why Zone 8b and Mesilla's frost date answer different questions.