Scotts Valley, CA 95001 Frost Dates
95001, near Scotts Valley, CA: the frost window
Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 01/29, roughly 154 days out. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 12/13, roughly 323 days after the last spring frost.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Scotts Valley in Zone 9b (25 to 30°F average annual minimum); frost dates are NOAA's 1991-2020 station normal, not this year's forecast.
Stretching the season past the first frost
Scotts Valley's growing season runs out in roughly 15 weeks — a cold frame or greenhouse kit is the usual way to keep cool-weather crops going past the first frost.
Why 01/29 isn't a guarantee
01/29 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 02/28 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 12/25 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Scotts Valley against the rest of the dataset
At roughly 323 frost-free days, Scotts Valley places 3,259 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within CA, it ranks 1,388 of 2,555.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 95001: local microclimates, on what one yard in Scotts Valley can differ from the 95001 normal, and zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 9b and Scotts Valley's frost date answer different questions.