Alturas, CA 96116 Frost Dates
96116, near Alturas, CA: the frost window
Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 06/14, roughly 290 days out. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 09/18, roughly 94 days after the last spring frost.
Alturas sits in USDA Zone 6b (-5 to 0°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
Alturas's growing season runs out in roughly 3 weeks — a cold frame or greenhouse kit is the usual way to keep cool-weather crops going past the first frost.
Why 06/14 isn't a guarantee
06/14 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 05/26 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 07/03 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Alturas against the rest of the dataset
At roughly 94 frost-free days, Alturas places 39,827 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within CA, it ranks 2,530 of 2,555.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 96116: the frost range, on how to read the range around Alturas's dates instead of trusting one, and local microclimates, on what one yard in Alturas can differ from the 96116 normal.