South Lake Tahoe, CA 96142 Frost Dates
South Lake Tahoe, CA: when does the frost end?
The last spring frost here typically falls around 06/09, about 285 days from today. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 09/25, roughly 108 days after the last spring frost.
South Lake Tahoe 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
With roughly 4 weeks until South Lake Tahoe's first fall frost, a row cover or cold frame is what stretches the last few weeks of harvest here.
Why 06/09 isn't a guarantee
06/09 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 06/25 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
South Lake Tahoe against the rest of the dataset
At roughly 108 frost-free days, South Lake Tahoe places 39,530 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within CA, it ranks 2,503 of 2,555.
Learn more
Before leaning on 96142's figures: local microclimates explains what one yard in South Lake Tahoe can differ from the 96142 normal, while zone vs. frost date explains why Zone 6b and South Lake Tahoe's frost date answer different questions.