Santa Maria, CA 93457 Frost Dates
When can you plant in Santa Maria, CA?
The last spring frost here typically falls around 02/04, about 160 days from today. The first fall frost typically arrives around 12/13, about 315 frost-free days later.
Zone 9b (25 to 30°F average annual minimum) comes from the USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map; the frost dates above are the 1991-2020 normal at the nearest reporting NOAA station for Santa Maria, not a forecast for this year.
What to do before the first frost
About 15 weeks of growing season left in Santa Maria before the first fall frost — a cold frame or row cover can stretch harvest weeks past that date.
The actual range around Santa Maria's last frost
02/04 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Plant by 03/16 and you're betting against frost in roughly 9 years out of 10. 12/29 is the safer bet, historically only a 1-in-10 chance of frost that late.
How Santa Maria compares
Santa Maria's growing season runs about 315 days, ranking 3,402 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within CA, it ranks 1,417 of 2,555.
Learn more
zone vs. frost date covers why Zone 9b and Santa Maria's frost date answer different questions. the frost range covers how to read the range around Santa Maria's dates instead of trusting one.