El Cajon, CA 91962 Frost Dates
Frost dates for El Cajon, CA, ZIP 91962
Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 04/30, roughly 245 days out. The first fall frost typically arrives around 10/26, about 174 frost-free days later.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts El Cajon in Zone 8b (15 to 20°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
Zone 8b around El Cajon has about 8 weeks left before the first fall frost — that's the usual window to get a cold frame up if you want to keep harvesting past it.
The actual range around El Cajon's last frost
04/30 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Plant by 04/09 and you're betting against frost in roughly 9 years out of 10. 06/01 is the safer bet, historically only a 1-in-10 chance of frost that late.
How El Cajon compares
About 174 days separate El Cajon's last and first frost, putting it 27,321 of 40,283 ZIP codes nationally. Within CA, it ranks 2,363 of 2,555.
Learn more
zone vs. frost date explains why Zone 8b and El Cajon's frost date answer different questions, and the frost range explains how to read the range around El Cajon's dates instead of trusting one.