El Cerrito, CA 94530 Frost Dates
El Cerrito, CA: when does the frost end?
The last spring frost here typically falls around 01/03, about 128 days from today. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 01/01, roughly 365 days after the last spring frost.
Zone 10a (30 to 35°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 El Cerrito, not a forecast for this year.
Stretching the season past the first frost
With roughly 18 weeks until El Cerrito's first fall frost, a row cover or cold frame is what stretches the last few weeks of harvest here.
Why 01/03 isn't a guarantee
01/03 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 02/14 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 12/14 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
El Cerrito against the rest of the dataset
El Cerrito's growing season runs about 365 days, ranking 1,157 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within CA, it ranks 490 of 2,555.
Learn more
Before leaning on 94530's figures: the frost range explains how to read the range around El Cerrito's dates instead of trusting one, while local microclimates explains what one yard in El Cerrito can differ from the 94530 normal.