Etna, CA 96037 Frost Dates
96037, near Etna, CA: the frost window
Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 05/20, roughly 265 days out. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/05, roughly 135 days after the last spring frost.
Etna sits in USDA Zone 8a (10 to 15°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
Etna's growing season runs out in roughly 5 weeks — a cold frame or greenhouse kit is the usual way to keep cool-weather crops going past the first frost.
How much risk comes with planting early here
05/20 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 05/02 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 06/12 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Etna against the rest of the dataset
Etna's growing season runs about 135 days, ranking 37,904 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within CA, it ranks 2,451 of 2,555.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 96037: the frost range, on how to read the range around Etna's dates instead of trusting one, and local microclimates, on what one yard in Etna can differ from the 96037 normal.