Scotts Valley, CA 95005 Frost Dates
95005, near Scotts Valley, CA: the frost window
Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 03/25, roughly 209 days out. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 11/11, roughly 231 days after the last spring frost.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Scotts Valley in Zone 9a (20 to 25°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 11 weeks — a cold frame or greenhouse kit is the usual way to keep cool-weather crops going past the first frost.
How much risk comes with planting early here
03/25 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 02/17 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 04/21 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Scotts Valley against the rest of the dataset
Scotts Valley's growing season runs about 231 days, ranking 10,160 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within CA, it ranks 2,167 of 2,555.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 95005: zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 9a and Scotts Valley's frost date answer different questions, and the frost range, on how to read the range around Scotts Valley's dates instead of trusting one.