Merced, CA 95340 Frost Dates
95340, near Merced, CA: the frost window
Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 02/26, roughly 182 days out. 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 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
Merced's growing season runs out in roughly 13 weeks — a cold frame or greenhouse kit is the usual way to keep cool-weather crops going past the first frost.
Why 02/26 isn't a guarantee
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
About 273 days separate Merced's last and first frost, putting it 5,179 of 40,283 ZIP codes nationally. Within CA, it ranks 1,824 of 2,555.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 95340: local microclimates, on what one yard in Merced can differ from the 95340 normal, and zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 9a and Merced's frost date answer different questions.