Arcata, CA 95519 Frost Dates
95519, near Arcata, CA: the frost window
The last spring frost here typically falls around 03/08, about 192 days from today. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 11/30, roughly 262 days after the last spring frost.
Arcata sits in USDA Zone 9b (25 to 30°F average annual minimum). The dates above are NOAA's 1991-2020 normal at the nearest reporting station, a 30-year average, not a forecast.
Stretching the season past the first frost
Arcata'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 03/08 isn't a guarantee
03/08 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 01/13 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 04/15 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Arcata against the rest of the dataset
At roughly 262 frost-free days, Arcata places 6,205 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within CA, it ranks 2,027 of 2,555.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 95519: zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 9b and Arcata's frost date answer different questions, and the frost range, on how to read the range around Arcata's dates instead of trusting one.