Susanville, CA 96130 Frost Dates
96130, near Susanville, CA: the frost window
The last spring frost here typically falls around 05/18, about 263 days from today. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/08, roughly 143 days after the last spring frost.
Zone 7a (0 to 5°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 Susanville, not a forecast for this year.
Stretching the season past the first frost
Susanville'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 05/18 isn't a guarantee
05/18 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/30 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 06/09 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Susanville against the rest of the dataset
About 143 days separate Susanville's last and first frost, putting it 36,510 of 40,283 ZIP codes nationally. Within CA, it ranks 2,442 of 2,555.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 96130: local microclimates, on what one yard in Susanville can differ from the 96130 normal, and zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 7a and Susanville's frost date answer different questions.