Shasta Lake, CA 96003 Frost Dates
Frost dates for Shasta Lake, CA, ZIP 96003
Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 03/03, roughly 187 days out. The first fall frost typically arrives around 11/21, about 261 frost-free days later.
Shasta Lake 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.
What to do before the first frost
Zone 9b around Shasta Lake has about 12 weeks left before the first fall frost — that's the usual window to get a cold frame up if you want to keep harvesting past it.
Why 03/03 isn't a guarantee
03/03 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Plant by 01/31 and you're betting against frost in roughly 9 years out of 10. 04/09 is the safer bet, historically only a 1-in-10 chance of frost that late.
How Shasta Lake compares
At roughly 261 frost-free days, Shasta Lake places 6,392 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within CA, it ranks 2,041 of 2,555.
Learn more
local microclimates explains what one yard in Shasta Lake can differ from the 96003 normal, and zone vs. frost date explains why Zone 9b and Shasta Lake's frost date answer different questions.