Santa Maria, CA 93429 Frost Dates
Santa Maria, CA: when does the frost end?
Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 02/04, roughly 160 days out. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 12/13, roughly 315 days after the last spring frost.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Santa Maria 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 15 weeks until Santa Maria's first fall frost, a row cover or cold frame is what stretches the last few weeks of harvest here.
The actual range around Santa Maria's last frost
02/04 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 03/16 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 12/29 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Santa Maria against the rest of the dataset
Santa Maria's growing season runs about 315 days, ranking 3,399 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within CA, it ranks 1,414 of 2,555.
Learn more
Before leaning on 93429's figures: local microclimates explains what one yard in Santa Maria can differ from the 93429 normal, while zone vs. frost date explains why Zone 10a and Santa Maria's frost date answer different questions.