Shasta Lake, CA 96079 Frost Dates
96079, near Shasta Lake, CA: the frost window
The last spring frost here typically falls around 03/03, about 187 days from today. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 11/21, roughly 261 days after the last spring frost.
Zone 9b (25 to 30°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 Shasta Lake, not a forecast for this year.
Stretching the season past the first frost
Shasta Lake's growing season runs out in roughly 12 weeks — a cold frame or greenhouse kit is the usual way to keep cool-weather crops going past the first frost.
Why 03/03 isn't a guarantee
03/03 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 01/31 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 04/09 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Shasta Lake against the rest of the dataset
At roughly 261 frost-free days, Shasta Lake places 6,398 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within CA, it ranks 2,047 of 2,555.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 96079: the frost range, on how to read the range around Shasta Lake's dates instead of trusting one, and local microclimates, on what one yard in Shasta Lake can differ from the 96079 normal.