Nevada City, CA 95981 Frost Dates
Nevada City, CA: when does the frost end?
The last spring frost here typically falls around 05/04, about 249 days from today. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/30, roughly 174 days after the last spring frost.
Zone 8a (10 to 15°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 Nevada City, not a forecast for this year.
Stretching the season past the first frost
With roughly 9 weeks until Nevada City's first fall frost, a row cover or cold frame is what stretches the last few weeks of harvest here.
How much risk comes with planting early here
05/04 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/18 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/31 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Nevada City against the rest of the dataset
About 174 days separate Nevada City's last and first frost, putting it 27,470 of 40,283 ZIP codes nationally. Within CA, it ranks 2,375 of 2,555.
Learn more
Before leaning on 95981's figures: zone vs. frost date explains why Zone 8a and Nevada City's frost date answer different questions, while the frost range explains how to read the range around Nevada City's dates instead of trusting one.