When to plant in Sun City, AZ

Planting dates worked out from Sun City's own frost records, not a generic zone chart.

Frost is rare in Sun City: in 12 of the last 28 springs there was none at all. Frost dates matter less here than heat, so the planting table below is left out.

Safe to plant out

Feb 5

1 year in 10 has a later frost

Average last frost

Jan 15

about a 50% chance of a later one

Average first fall frost

Dec 14

1 year in 10 by Nov 30

Frost-free days

337

median, 1991–2020

Station used: Youngtown · 2.7 km away · station 346 m, town 348 m. How we match towns to stations

Sun City's weather over time

How the growing season has shifted here, year by year, from the station's own records.

Each year's last spring frostLong-term trend

See the data as a table

Year	Last spring frost
1965	Mar 5
1966	Mar 4
1967	Feb 19
1968	Jan 6
1969	Mar 15
1970	Feb 3
1971	Mar 3
1972	Feb 14
1973	Jan 25
1974	Feb 24
1975	Feb 23
1976	Jan 13
1977	Apr 3
1978	Jan 26
1979	Feb 6
1980	Feb 10
1981	Feb 2
1982	Feb 3
1983	Jan 22
1984	Jan 20
1985	Feb 7
1986	Feb 11
1987	Jan 22
1988	Jan 21
1989	Jan 15
1990	Feb 20
1991	Jan 30
1992	Jan 14
1994	Feb 3
1996	Jan 25
1997	Jan 9
2002	Feb 1
2004	Jan 5
2007	Jan 15
2008	Jan 20
2011	Feb 4
2013	Jan 16
2015	Jan 4
2016	Feb 3
2018	Feb 26
2019	Feb 23
2020	Feb 6
2021	Jan 3
2022	Feb 24
2023	Jan 29
2024	Jan 13
2025	Jan 22

Each year's frost-free daysLong-term trend

See the data as a table

Year	Frost-free days
1965	289
1966	267
1967	293
1968	325
1969	267
1970	302
1971	277
1972	294
1973	305
1974	293
1975	279
1976	319
1977	271
1978	311
1979	287
1980	323
1981	324
1982	330
1983	309
1984	310
1985	305
1986	302
1987	325
1988	334
1989	330
1990	299
1991	306
1992	336
1993	349
1994	289
1995	354
1996	311
1997	349
1998	339
1999	347
2000	319
2001	345
2002	332
2003	360
2004	328
2005	348
2007	341
2008	340
2009	337
2010	332
2011	304
2012	361
2013	323
2014	360
2015	344
2018	304
2019	308
2020	327
2021	361
2022	292
2024	351

Each year's average temperature, April to SeptemberLong-term trend

See the data as a table

Year	Growing-season temperature
1965	26.1 °C
1966	27.9 °C
1968	26.9 °C
1969	28.0 °C
1970	27.8 °C
1971	27.4 °C
1972	28.3 °C
1973	27.9 °C
1974	28.4 °C
1975	27.1 °C
1976	27.8 °C
1977	27.9 °C
1978	27.7 °C
1979	28.2 °C
1980	28.0 °C
1981	29.7 °C
1982	28.0 °C
1983	28.1 °C
1984	28.6 °C
1985	28.8 °C
1986	28.5 °C
1987	29.0 °C
1988	28.4 °C
1989	29.7 °C
1990	29.3 °C
1991	28.5 °C
1992	29.4 °C
1993	29.1 °C
1994	30.1 °C
1995	29.1 °C
1997	30.1 °C
1998	28.6 °C
1999	29.2 °C
2000	31.2 °C
2001	30.7 °C
2002	30.1 °C
2003	29.6 °C
2004	29.8 °C
2005	29.8 °C
2007	30.2 °C
2008	29.9 °C
2009	30.4 °C
2010	29.5 °C
2011	30.0 °C
2012	30.6 °C
2013	30.3 °C
2014	30.0 °C
2015	30.0 °C
2018	30.2 °C
2019	29.4 °C
2020	30.7 °C
2021	30.1 °C
2022	30.3 °C
2023	30.1 °C
2024	31.6 °C

What this means for you: Since 1965, Sun City's last spring frost has come about 4 days earlier per decade, on average. The frost-free season has grown by about 9 days per decade. Year-to-year swings are large, so keep using the safe date rather than the trend.

Source: daily records from Youngtown (NOAA GHCN-Daily). Years with too many missing days are left out.

Nearby towns

Youngtown Peoria El Mirage Surprise Sun City West Glendale