Goleta, CA 93160 Frost Dates
93160, near Goleta, CA: the frost window
Around 12/31 is the usual last spring frost, about 125 days away. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 12/20, roughly 365 days after the last spring frost.
Goleta sits in USDA Zone 10a (30 to 35°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
Goleta's growing season runs out in roughly 16 weeks — a cold frame or greenhouse kit is the usual way to keep cool-weather crops going past the first frost.
Why 12/31 isn't a guarantee
12/31 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 01/29 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 12/08 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Goleta against the rest of the dataset
About 365 days separate Goleta's last and first frost, putting it 1,043 of 40,283 ZIP codes nationally. Within CA, it ranks 456 of 2,555.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 93160: local microclimates, on what one yard in Goleta can differ from the 93160 normal, and zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 10a and Goleta's frost date answer different questions.