Shasta Lake, CA 96093 Frost Dates
96093, near Shasta Lake, CA: the frost window
Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 05/03, roughly 248 days out. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/11, roughly 159 days after the last spring frost.
Shasta Lake sits in USDA Zone 8b (15 to 20°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
Shasta Lake's growing season runs out in roughly 6 weeks — a cold frame or greenhouse kit is the usual way to keep cool-weather crops going past the first frost.
Why 05/03 isn't a guarantee
05/03 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/16 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/27 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Shasta Lake against the rest of the dataset
About 159 days separate Shasta Lake's last and first frost, putting it 32,626 of 40,283 ZIP codes nationally. Within CA, it ranks 2,421 of 2,555.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 96093: 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 96093 normal.