Anchorage, AK 99502 Frost Dates
Anchorage, AK: when does the frost end?
The last spring frost here typically falls around 05/05, about 250 days from today. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 09/29, roughly 147 days after the last spring frost.
Zone 5b (-15 to -10°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.
Stretching the season past the first frost
With roughly 5 weeks until Anchorage's first fall frost, a row cover or cold frame is what stretches the last few weeks of harvest here.
How much risk comes with planting early here
05/05 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/25 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/14 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Anchorage against the rest of the dataset
About 147 days separate Anchorage's last and first frost, putting it 35,822 of 40,283 ZIP codes nationally. Within AK, it ranks 55 of 269.
Learn more
Before leaning on 99502's figures: the frost range explains how to read the range around Anchorage's dates instead of trusting one, while local microclimates explains what one yard in Anchorage can differ from the 99502 normal.