NOAA station USC00427260 · Utah
Frost Dates near Richfield, UT
NOAA weather station Richfield Radio KSVC (USC00427260), Utah · elevation 5285 ft (1611 m) · hardiness zone 6a*
Richfield is the nearest town to the station (0.8 mi away) in GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). The dates below are measured at the station, not in the town itself.
- Lower-risk planting dateafter June 7only 1 spring in 10 still has a frost later
- Typical last frostMay 2150% chance of a frost after it
- Typical first fall frostSeptember 2450% chance of a frost before it
- Frost-free season125 daystypical year, 32°F
- Hardiness zone6acalculated*
The year at a glance
Frost dates (32°F)
| Chance | Last frost in spring after | First frost in fall before |
|---|---|---|
| 10% (unlikely) | June 7 | September 12 |
| 50% (typical) | May 21 | September 24 |
| 90% (likely) | May 4 | October 6 |
- Frost-free season (32°F, 50% chance)
- 125 days
- Hard frost (28°F), last in spring, 50% chance after
- May 7
- Hard frost (28°F), first in fall, 50% chance before
- October 4
The last 15 years (2006–2020 normals)
Typical last frost May 20 (1 day earlier than the 30-year normal), typical first fall frost September 26 (2 days later). Frost-free season 126 days.
A shorter, more recent NOAA period. The 30-year normals above remain the main reference: 15 years carry more year-to-year noise.
Add these dates to your calendar Yearly reminders for the typical last frost, the lower-risk planting date and the typical first fall frost (.ics).
How the chance of frost changes with the date
What actually happened in recent years
| Year | Last spring frost | First fall frost |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | May 25 | September 21 |
| 2022 | June 1 | October 13 |
| 2023 | May 12 | September 25 |
| 2024 | May 22 | October 15 |
| 2025 | May 21 | October 6 |
| 2026 | May 21 | season not over yet |
What these dates mean
The 125-day span between the two 32 °F 50% dates—May 21 and September 24—captures the period when light frosts are equally likely to have occurred or not, and it also contains the median hard-frost dates, May 7 and October 4. Those 50% dates are not frost dates; they simply mark the point at which a gardener faces even odds of a frost having happened.
For a cautious spring plan, the June 7 date carries a 10 % chance of a light frost later, making it the recommended day to set out tender crops, while the May 4 date carries a 90 % chance and is a gamble. In the fall, September 12 is the cautious date with a 10 % chance of a light frost earlier, suitable for finishing tender harvests, whereas October 6 carries a 90 % chance and is risky. A hard frost at 28 °F matters more than a light frost at 32 °F because it can damage or kill plants that survive milder temperatures.
How to read the probabilities
The dates are probabilities from 30 years of weather, not a forecast for this year.
- Spring: "10% after June 7" means that in about one spring out of ten a frost still happens after that date. The 90% date is the earliest: a frost after it happens in most years.
- Fall: "10% before September 12" means that in about one fall out of ten the first frost arrives before that date.
- 50% is the typical date: half of the years are earlier, half are later.
- A light frost (32°F) damages tender plants; a hard frost (28°F) also stops most hardy vegetables.
Nearby weather stations
- Salina, UT 37 mi (60 km)
- Manti, UT 42 mi (67 km)
- Black Rock, UT 47 mi (76 km)
- Deseret, UT 48 mi (77 km)
- Ephraim, UT 49 mi (78 km)
Sources
- NOAA NCEI U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020, station USC00427260
- NOAA NCEI U.S. Climate Normals
- PRISM Group, Oregon State University — 2023 USDA Plant Hardiness Zone GIS datasets
- GeoNames (www.geonames.org), CC BY 4.0 — place name
- NOAA NCEI U.S. Climate Normals 2006–2020 (15-year normals), station USC00427260
- NOAA NCEI Global Historical Climatology Network – Daily (GHCN-Daily), observed daily minimum temperature, retrieved 2026-10-08
* Hardiness zone 6a: zone derived from PRISM 2023 grid at the station location (not the official USDA map). Source data: PRISM Group, Oregon State University.
Station coordinates: 38.7617, -112.0778.