Fairbanks, AK 99701 Frost Dates
99701, near Fairbanks, AK: the frost window
The last spring frost here typically falls around 05/16, about 261 days from today. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 09/06, roughly 112 days after the last spring frost.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Fairbanks in Zone 3a (-40 to -35°F average annual minimum); frost dates are NOAA's 1991-2020 station normal, not this year's forecast.
Stretching the season past the first frost
Fairbanks's growing season runs out in roughly 1 week — a cold frame or greenhouse kit is the usual way to keep cool-weather crops going past the first frost.
The actual range around Fairbanks's last frost
05/16 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 05/05 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/29 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Fairbanks against the rest of the dataset
At roughly 112 frost-free days, Fairbanks places 39,408 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within AK, it ranks 149 of 269.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 99701: zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 3a and Fairbanks's frost date answer different questions, and the frost range, on how to read the range around Fairbanks's dates instead of trusting one.