Palm Desert, CA 92260 Frost Dates
Palm Desert, CA: when does the frost end?
Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 12/31, roughly 125 days out. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 12/27, roughly 365 days after the last spring frost.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Palm Desert in Zone 10a (30 to 35°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
With roughly 17 weeks until Palm Desert'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
12/31 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 01/21 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 12/10 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Palm Desert against the rest of the dataset
Palm Desert's growing season runs about 365 days, ranking 869 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within CA, it ranks 350 of 2,555.
Learn more
Before leaning on 92260's figures: local microclimates explains what one yard in Palm Desert can differ from the 92260 normal, while zone vs. frost date explains why Zone 10a and Palm Desert's frost date answer different questions.