When to plant in Sacramento, CA

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

Frost is rare in Sacramento: in 14 of the last 30 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 3

1 year in 10 has a later frost

Average last frost

Jan 11

about a 50% chance of a later one

Average first fall frost

Dec 18

1 year in 10 by Nov 25

Frost-free days

340

median, 1991–2020

Station used: Sacramento 5 Ese · 7.2 km away · station 12 m, town 9 m. How we match towns to stations

Sacramento'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
1878	Jan 5
1879	Jan 27
1880	Mar 15
1882	Feb 20
1883	Feb 16
1884	Feb 14
1886	Jan 9
1887	Feb 26
1888	Jan 18
1889	Feb 18
1890	Feb 27
1891	Feb 10
1892	Feb 7
1893	Feb 1
1894	Feb 11
1895	Jan 26
1896	Jan 5
1898	Mar 27
1899	Feb 7
1901	Feb 10
1902	Feb 1
1903	Feb 16
1904	Jan 22
1905	Jan 4
1906	Jan 3
1907	Jan 15
1910	Jan 18
1911	Feb 26
1912	Jan 6
1913	Jan 11
1916	Jan 31
1917	Feb 2
1918	Mar 6
1919	Jan 14
1920	Jan 13
1921	Jan 11
1922	Feb 2
1923	Feb 2
1924	Jan 19
1925	Jan 17
1926	Jan 18
1927	Jan 22
1928	Jan 18
1929	Feb 10
1930	Jan 13
1931	Jan 12
1932	Feb 2
1933	Feb 10
1935	Jan 20
1937	Jan 25
1938	Jan 24
1939	Feb 9
1940	Jan 17
1942	Mar 14
1943	Jan 19
1944	Jan 4
1945	Jan 24
1946	Feb 13
1947	Jan 29
1948	Feb 13
1949	Feb 14
1950	Mar 12
1951	Mar 3
1952	Jan 9
1953	Mar 2
1954	Jan 25
1955	Feb 21
1956	Feb 18
1957	Feb 4
1958	Jan 22
1959	Jan 3
1960	Jan 16
1961	Jan 21
1962	Feb 27
1963	Jan 22
1964	Mar 7
1966	Jan 20
1967	Jan 2
1968	Jan 11
1969	Jan 29
1970	Jan 6
1971	Mar 1
1972	Feb 2
1973	Jan 6
1974	Jan 2
1975	Jan 30
1977	Jan 8
1979	Jan 29
1985	Feb 5
1987	Feb 25
1988	Feb 4
1989	Feb 12
1990	Feb 18
1993	Jan 5
1997	Jan 14
1999	Jan 11
2000	Jan 6
2001	Jan 18
2002	Feb 2
2004	Jan 4
2007	Jan 18
2009	Jan 4
2011	Feb 27
2012	Jan 17
2013	Jan 20
2015	Jan 3
2017	Jan 6
2018	Feb 24
2019	Feb 7
2021	Jan 26
2022	Feb 24
2023	Jan 31

Each year's frost-free daysLong-term trend

See the data as a table

Year	Frost-free days
1878	342
1879	329
1880	243
1881	319
1882	312
1883	281
1884	295
1885	363
1886	315
1887	271
1888	314
1889	315
1890	306
1891	298
1892	289
1893	290
1894	292
1895	329
1896	325
1897	328
1898	240
1899	313
1900	363
1901	305
1902	296
1903	316
1904	342
1905	332
1906	324
1907	349
1908	331
1909	336
1910	345
1911	257
1912	349
1913	326
1914	340
1915	362
1916	285
1917	315
1919	317
1920	341
1921	310
1922	304
1923	311
1924	331
1925	347
1926	339
1927	318
1928	330
1929	293
1930	327
1931	313
1932	309
1933	323
1934	363
1935	287
1936	332
1937	339
1938	291
1939	324
1940	347
1941	323
1942	291
1943	329
1944	341
1945	322
1946	307
1947	297
1948	304
1949	299
1950	293
1951	280
1952	319
1953	303
1954	308
1955	276
1956	291
1957	329
1958	298
1959	343
1960	324
1961	299
1962	300
1963	322
1964	280
1965	347
1966	344
1967	342
1968	342
1969	303
1970	358
1971	284
1972	305
1973	358
1974	362
1975	334
1976	363
1977	356
1978	339
1979	335
1980	346
1981	363
1982	362
1983	363
1984	354
1985	280
1986	332
1987	291
1988	323
1989	302
1990	298
1991	363
1992	351
1993	323
1994	341
1995	363
1996	363
1997	350
1998	352
1999	338
2000	309
2001	346
2002	331
2003	325
2004	328
2005	363
2006	350
2007	337
2008	349
2009	335
2010	327
2011	298
2012	335
2013	318
2014	363
2015	328
2016	350
2017	358
2018	309
2019	326
2020	363
2021	338
2022	295
2023	333
2024	363

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

See the data as a table

Year	Growing-season temperature
1878	20.5 °C
1879	20.5 °C
1880	19.1 °C
1881	20.2 °C
1882	20.3 °C
1883	21.0 °C
1884	19.7 °C
1885	21.0 °C
1886	20.1 °C
1887	19.7 °C
1888	21.1 °C
1889	20.6 °C
1890	20.1 °C
1891	20.4 °C
1892	19.3 °C
1893	19.4 °C
1894	20.2 °C
1895	19.8 °C
1896	19.4 °C
1897	20.9 °C
1898	20.0 °C
1899	19.5 °C
1900	19.4 °C
1901	19.3 °C
1902	19.5 °C
1903	19.6 °C
1904	20.4 °C
1905	19.3 °C
1906	19.7 °C
1907	19.0 °C
1908	20.0 °C
1909	19.8 °C
1910	19.7 °C
1911	18.3 °C
1912	19.2 °C
1913	20.6 °C
1914	19.1 °C
1915	19.7 °C
1916	19.9 °C
1917	20.4 °C
1918	20.2 °C
1919	20.1 °C
1920	20.0 °C
1921	20.0 °C
1922	20.9 °C
1923	19.8 °C
1924	20.7 °C
1925	19.9 °C
1926	21.1 °C
1927	19.9 °C
1928	20.6 °C
1929	20.1 °C
1930	19.5 °C
1931	21.6 °C
1932	20.6 °C
1933	20.0 °C
1934	21.8 °C
1935	21.0 °C
1936	21.9 °C
1937	21.2 °C
1938	21.0 °C
1939	21.8 °C
1940	21.2 °C
1941	20.4 °C
1942	20.2 °C
1943	20.8 °C
1944	20.2 °C
1945	21.1 °C
1946	20.6 °C
1947	21.5 °C
1948	19.7 °C
1949	21.0 °C
1950	21.3 °C
1951	20.4 °C
1952	21.1 °C
1953	20.3 °C
1954	20.8 °C
1955	20.4 °C
1956	20.7 °C
1957	21.4 °C
1958	21.6 °C
1959	21.5 °C
1960	21.5 °C
1961	21.3 °C
1962	20.9 °C
1963	20.1 °C
1964	20.3 °C
1965	20.8 °C
1966	22.8 °C
1967	21.5 °C
1968	21.4 °C
1969	22.1 °C
1970	21.9 °C
1971	21.3 °C
1972	21.8 °C
1973	22.0 °C
1974	22.5 °C
1975	21.6 °C
1976	22.6 °C
1977	21.3 °C
1978	21.4 °C
1979	22.2 °C
1980	20.9 °C
1981	23.0 °C
1982	21.2 °C
1983	21.9 °C
1984	23.2 °C
1985	22.0 °C
1986	21.6 °C
1987	22.5 °C
1988	22.3 °C
1989	21.9 °C
1990	22.9 °C
1991	21.6 °C
1992	23.4 °C
1993	22.3 °C
1994	22.4 °C
1995	21.9 °C
1996	23.2 °C
1997	23.6 °C
1998	21.7 °C
1999	21.3 °C
2000	22.4 °C
2001	22.6 °C
2002	22.6 °C
2003	22.3 °C
2004	22.7 °C
2005	22.1 °C
2006	22.4 °C
2007	22.1 °C
2008	22.2 °C
2009	22.2 °C
2010	20.7 °C
2011	21.1 °C
2012	22.4 °C
2013	22.8 °C
2014	23.2 °C
2015	22.8 °C
2016	23.0 °C
2017	23.2 °C
2018	22.5 °C
2019	22.9 °C
2020	23.9 °C
2021	23.7 °C
2022	23.5 °C
2023	22.3 °C
2024	23.8 °C

What this means for you: Since 1878, Sacramento's last spring frost has stayed at about the same time of year. The frost-free season has grown by about 2 days per decade. Year-to-year swings are large, so keep using the safe date rather than the trend.

Source: daily records from Sacramento 5 Ese (NOAA GHCN-Daily). Years with too many missing days are left out.

Nearby towns

West Sacramento Fruitridge Pocket Parkway Arden-Arcade Rosemont La Riviera