When to plant in Crest, CA

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

Frost is rare in Crest: in 8 of the last 19 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 28

1 year in 10 has a later frost

Average last frost

Jan 28

about a 50% chance of a later one

Average first fall frost

Dec 23

1 year in 10 by Dec 7

Frost-free days

318

median, 1991–2020

Station used: Alpine · 9.0 km away · station 517 m, town 500 m. How we match towns to stations

Crest'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
1953	Apr 11
1954	Mar 26
1955	Apr 5
1956	Mar 19
1957	Mar 23
1958	Apr 25
1960	Jan 17
1962	Mar 14
1963	Mar 18
1964	Mar 3
1965	Feb 12
1966	Mar 3
1968	Jan 29
1969	Jan 30
1970	Jan 5
1971	Mar 3
1972	Apr 9
1973	Apr 3
1974	Jan 29
1975	Jan 3
1976	Jan 2
1977	Mar 31
1978	Jan 24
1979	Feb 17
1982	Jan 3
1983	Apr 14
1985	Mar 3
1987	Jan 17
1988	Jan 20
1989	Feb 6
1990	Feb 19
1991	Mar 16
2009	Feb 13
2010	Feb 23
2011	Feb 27
2012	Mar 1
2013	Feb 22
2015	Jan 2
2016	Feb 2
2018	Feb 28
2019	Feb 19
2020	Feb 5
2021	Jan 28
2022	Feb 25
2023	Apr 4

Each year's frost-free daysLong-term trend

See the data as a table

Year	Frost-free days
1953	221
1954	274
1955	232
1956	229
1957	282
1958	204
1959	346
1960	323
1961	363
1962	287
1963	287
1964	255
1965	313
1966	299
1967	346
1968	321
1969	330
1970	359
1973	253
1974	327
1975	345
1976	329
1977	226
1978	315
1979	275
1980	363
1981	363
1982	354
1983	260
1985	302
1986	363
1987	330
1988	340
1989	327
1995	363
2000	363
2003	345
2009	312
2010	278
2011	280
2012	292
2013	289
2014	359
2015	358
2016	318
2017	363
2018	302
2019	314
2020	328
2021	321
2022	308
2023	270
2024	363
2025	363

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

See the data as a table

Year	Growing-season temperature
1953	19.2 °C
1954	20.1 °C
1955	20.1 °C
1956	20.2 °C
1957	20.6 °C
1958	20.9 °C
1959	21.7 °C
1960	22.4 °C
1961	20.5 °C
1962	19.5 °C
1963	19.0 °C
1964	20.0 °C
1965	19.5 °C
1966	21.2 °C
1967	20.4 °C
1968	21.1 °C
1970	21.3 °C
1972	21.3 °C
1974	21.4 °C
1975	19.9 °C
1976	20.7 °C
1977	20.7 °C
1978	21.8 °C
1979	22.3 °C
1980	21.1 °C
1981	22.6 °C
1982	20.7 °C
1983	21.1 °C
1984	22.5 °C
1985	21.2 °C
1986	20.2 °C
1987	20.0 °C
1995	21.2 °C
2009	21.1 °C
2010	19.1 °C
2011	19.6 °C
2012	20.8 °C
2013	21.0 °C
2014	21.7 °C
2015	21.1 °C
2016	20.9 °C
2017	21.4 °C
2018	21.6 °C
2019	20.4 °C
2020	21.9 °C
2021	21.3 °C
2022	22.1 °C
2023	20.1 °C
2024	21.2 °C
2025	20.6 °C

What this means for you: Since 1953, Crest's last spring frost has come about 3 days earlier per decade, on average. The frost-free season has grown by about 6 days per decade. Year-to-year swings are large, so keep using the safe date rather than the trend.

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

Nearby towns

Granite Hills Harbison Canyon Winter Gardens Bostonia Lakeside El Cajon