Anchorage, AK 99501 Frost Dates
When can you plant in Anchorage, AK?
The last spring frost here typically falls around 05/01, about 246 days from today. The first fall frost typically arrives around 09/29, about 150 frost-free days later.
Zone 5a (-20 to -15°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 Anchorage, not a forecast for this year.
What to do before the first frost
About 5 weeks of growing season left in Anchorage before the first fall frost — a cold frame or row cover can stretch harvest weeks past that date.
The actual range around Anchorage's last frost
05/01 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Plant by 04/19 and you're betting against frost in roughly 9 years out of 10. 05/09 is the safer bet, historically only a 1-in-10 chance of frost that late.
How Anchorage compares
At roughly 150 frost-free days, Anchorage places 35,234 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within AK, it ranks 46 of 269.
Learn more
zone vs. frost date covers why Zone 5a and Anchorage's frost date answer different questions. the frost range covers how to read the range around Anchorage's dates instead of trusting one.