Merced, CA 95306 Frost Dates
Merced, CA: when does the frost end?
Around 02/26 is the usual last spring frost, about 182 days away. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 11/25, roughly 273 days after the last spring frost.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Merced 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
With roughly 13 weeks until Merced's first fall frost, a row cover or cold frame is what stretches the last few weeks of harvest here.
The actual range around Merced's last frost
02/26 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 01/20 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 04/01 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Merced against the rest of the dataset
Merced's growing season runs about 273 days, ranking 5,178 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within CA, it ranks 1,823 of 2,555.
Learn more
Before leaning on 95306's figures: zone vs. frost date explains why Zone 9b and Merced's frost date answer different questions, while the frost range explains how to read the range around Merced's dates instead of trusting one.