Fairfax, CA 94978 Frost Dates
When can you plant in Fairfax, CA?
The last spring frost here typically falls around 01/11, about 136 days from today. The first fall frost typically arrives around 12/21, about 349 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 Fairfax, not a forecast for this year.
What to do before the first frost
About 16 weeks of growing season left in Fairfax before the first fall frost — a cold frame or row cover can stretch harvest weeks past that date.
How much risk comes with planting early here
01/11 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Plant by 02/25 and you're betting against frost in roughly 9 years out of 10. 12/14 is the safer bet, historically only a 1-in-10 chance of frost that late.
How Fairfax compares
At roughly 349 frost-free days, Fairfax places 2,362 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within CA, it ranks 1,068 of 2,555.
Learn more
zone vs. frost date covers why Zone 9b and Fairfax's frost date answer different questions. the frost range covers how to read the range around Fairfax's dates instead of trusting one.