Elk Grove, CA 94289 Frost Dates
When can you plant in Elk Grove, CA?
Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 02/02, roughly 158 days out. The first fall frost typically arrives around 12/02, about 301 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 Elk Grove, not a forecast for this year.
What to do before the first frost
About 14 weeks of growing season left in Elk Grove before the first fall frost — a cold frame or row cover can stretch harvest weeks past that date.
The actual range around Elk Grove's last frost
02/02 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Plant by 01/02 and you're betting against frost in roughly 9 years out of 10. 03/05 is the safer bet, historically only a 1-in-10 chance of frost that late.
How Elk Grove compares
About 301 days separate Elk Grove's last and first frost, putting it 3,855 of 40,283 ZIP codes nationally. Within CA, it ranks 1,581 of 2,555.
Learn more
zone vs. frost date covers why Zone 9b and Elk Grove's frost date answer different questions. the frost range covers how to read the range around Elk Grove's dates instead of trusting one.