Ridgecrest, CA 93562 Frost Dates
Ridgecrest, CA: when does the frost end?
Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 02/15, roughly 171 days out. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 11/28, roughly 285 days after the last spring frost.
Ridgecrest sits in USDA Zone 9a (20 to 25°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
With roughly 13 weeks until Ridgecrest's first fall frost, a row cover or cold frame is what stretches the last few weeks of harvest here.
Why 02/15 isn't a guarantee
02/15 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 03/04 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Ridgecrest against the rest of the dataset
At roughly 285 frost-free days, Ridgecrest places 4,625 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within CA, it ranks 1,724 of 2,555.
Learn more
Before leaning on 93562's figures: local microclimates explains what one yard in Ridgecrest can differ from the 93562 normal, while zone vs. frost date explains why Zone 9a and Ridgecrest's frost date answer different questions.