Chico, CA 95973 Frost Dates
Chico, CA: when does the frost end?
Around 02/07 is the usual last spring frost, about 163 days away. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 12/18, roughly 313 days after the last spring frost.
Chico 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
With roughly 16 weeks until Chico's first fall frost, a row cover or cold frame is what stretches the last few weeks of harvest here.
The actual range around Chico's last frost
02/07 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/01 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 12/27 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Chico against the rest of the dataset
Chico's growing season runs about 313 days, ranking 3,439 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within CA, it ranks 1,434 of 2,555.
Learn more
Before leaning on 95973's figures: the frost range explains how to read the range around Chico's dates instead of trusting one, while local microclimates explains what one yard in Chico can differ from the 95973 normal.