Sonora, CA 95318 Frost Dates
When can you plant in Sonora, CA?
Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 05/12, roughly 257 days out. The first fall frost typically arrives around 11/01, about 171 frost-free days later.
Zone 8b (15 to 20°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 Sonora, not a forecast for this year.
What to do before the first frost
About 9 weeks of growing season left in Sonora before the first fall frost — a cold frame or row cover can stretch harvest weeks past that date.
Why 05/12 isn't a guarantee
05/12 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Plant by 04/18 and you're betting against frost in roughly 9 years out of 10. 06/04 is the safer bet, historically only a 1-in-10 chance of frost that late.
How Sonora compares
At roughly 171 frost-free days, Sonora places 28,636 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within CA, it ranks 2,380 of 2,555.
Learn more
the frost range covers how to read the range around Sonora's dates instead of trusting one. local microclimates covers what one yard in Sonora can differ from the 95318 normal.