Fort Jones, CA 96085 Frost Dates
96085, near Fort Jones, CA: the frost window
Around 04/30 is the usual last spring frost, about 245 days away. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/18, roughly 169 days after the last spring frost.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Fort Jones in Zone 8a (10 to 15°F average annual minimum); frost dates are NOAA's 1991-2020 station normal, not this year's forecast.
Stretching the season past the first frost
Fort Jones's growing season runs out in roughly 7 weeks — a cold frame or greenhouse kit is the usual way to keep cool-weather crops going past the first frost.
Why 04/30 isn't a guarantee
04/30 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/14 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/20 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Fort Jones against the rest of the dataset
Fort Jones's growing season runs about 169 days, ranking 29,545 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within CA, it ranks 2,405 of 2,555.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 96085: zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 8a and Fort Jones's frost date answer different questions, and the frost range, on how to read the range around Fort Jones's dates instead of trusting one.