Rancho Cordova, CA 95742 Frost Dates
95742, near Rancho Cordova, CA: the frost window
The last spring frost here typically falls around 01/12, about 137 days from today. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 12/16, roughly 341 days after the last spring frost.
Rancho Cordova 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
Rancho Cordova's growing season runs out in roughly 16 weeks — a cold frame or greenhouse kit is the usual way to keep cool-weather crops going past the first frost.
Why 01/12 isn't a guarantee
01/12 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 02/08 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 12/18 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Rancho Cordova against the rest of the dataset
At roughly 341 frost-free days, Rancho Cordova places 2,599 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within CA, it ranks 1,156 of 2,555.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 95742: zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 9b and Rancho Cordova's frost date answer different questions, and the frost range, on how to read the range around Rancho Cordova's dates instead of trusting one.