Poway, CA 91912 Frost Dates
When can you plant in Poway, CA?
Around 03/04 is the usual last spring frost, about 188 days away. The first fall frost typically arrives around 12/04, about 270 frost-free days later.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Poway in Zone 10b (35 to 40°F average annual minimum); frost dates are NOAA's 1991-2020 station normal, not this year's forecast.
What to do before the first frost
About 14 weeks of growing season left in Poway before the first fall frost — a cold frame or row cover can stretch harvest weeks past that date.
The actual range around Poway's last frost
03/04 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Plant by 01/29 and you're betting against frost in roughly 9 years out of 10. 04/10 is the safer bet, historically only a 1-in-10 chance of frost that late.
How Poway compares
At roughly 270 frost-free days, Poway places 5,484 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within CA, it ranks 1,904 of 2,555.
Learn more
local microclimates covers what one yard in Poway can differ from the 91912 normal. zone vs. frost date covers why Zone 10b and Poway's frost date answer different questions.