San Jose, CA 95140 Frost Dates
95140, near San Jose, CA: the frost window
The last spring frost here typically falls around 05/03, about 248 days from today. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 11/18, roughly 197 days after the last spring frost.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts San Jose 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
San Jose's growing season runs out in roughly 12 weeks — a cold frame or greenhouse kit is the usual way to keep cool-weather crops going past the first frost.
Why 05/03 isn't a guarantee
05/03 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/07 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 06/05 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
San Jose against the rest of the dataset
About 197 days separate San Jose's last and first frost, putting it 18,572 of 40,283 ZIP codes nationally. Within CA, it ranks 2,247 of 2,555.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 95140: zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 9b and San Jose's frost date answer different questions, and the frost range, on how to read the range around San Jose's dates instead of trusting one.