Gilbert, AZ Frost Dates: Last Spring and First Fall Frost

The last spring frost in Gilbert, AZ comes on February 1 in a typical year, and the first fall frost follows on December 11, leaving a frost-free season of 315 days.

Even odds are a coin toss, so plan around the safer edges: one spring in ten still has a freeze on or after February 27, and one fall in ten has its first freeze by November 23. Against a median of 229 days for the 100 cities on these pages, Gilbert has a season 86 days longer, 16th on the list.

NOAA measured them at Chandler Heights (station USC00021514), about 8.0 miles south-east of the Census Bureau's internal point for Gilbert and about 1,400 feet above sea level.

Gilbert's last spring frost, by chance

Frost is still possible on January 2 in nine springs out of ten and on February 1 in five; only one spring in ten sees a freeze as late as February 27.

A span of 56 days from the 90% date to the 10% date is wide for these pages. Spring in Gilbert is less predictable than in most of the 100 cities, and the late date is 26 days past the typical one.

When is the first frost in Gilbert?

NOAA's early fall date for Gilbert is November 23, its even-odds date is December 11 and its late date is January 1; the first freeze has come by each of them in one, five and nine years out of ten.

39 days separate the early and late fall dates, a broad band compared with most cities here, so a fall crop in Gilbert should be planned against the early date, not the typical one.

How long is the frost-free season in Gilbert?

A season this much longer than the middle of the pack gives Gilbert more days for slow crops, as the fall planting dates below show. A typical year gives 315 days, but nine years in ten still give at least 281 days; 34 days separate the two, a larger swing than most cities here show, so a crop that needs the full typical season is a gamble in Gilbert.

These figures are NOAA's own counts of freeze-free days across its simulated years, which is why they can differ a little from the days between the two typical dates. At Chandler Heights, 98.8% of years have a night at or below 32°F. In the rest there is no last or first frost to date.

Hard freeze dates for Gilbert

A wide gap separates 32°F from 28°F here: the typical hard freeze arrives 15 days after the first frost in fall (December 26) and leaves 24 days before the last in spring (January 8). Frost-tolerant crops get a long extension at both ends. At the edges, a 28°F night on or after February 11 happens one spring in ten and one by December 4 one fall in ten; the nine-in-ten dates are December 15 and January 29.

Using Gilbert's frost dates in the garden

In Gilbert the University of New Hampshire Extension count lands like this, measured from the typical last frost on February 1: lettuce from January 4 to January 11, cabbage on January 4, seed potatoes from January 18 to January 25, then peppers on February 15 and beans from February 1. Peas are the exception to the count: University of New Hampshire Extension says to plant them as soon as the soil thaws, whatever the frost date.

26 days lie between the typical and late dates in Gilbert, enough to decide whether you plant tender crops early with a cover ready or wait for a safer spring.

Of the 34 crops in the fall planner, 33 still have a July-or-later last planting day in Gilbert once NC State Extension's days to harvest and University of Georgia Extension's harvest allowance of 18 days are counted back from frost. The other 1 do not. The slowest crop that still fits is bulb onions, at 138 days, and it has to be planted by July 8 to beat the early date.

Worked example: fall broccoli in Gilbert

Broccoli transplants need up to 80 days to reach harvest by NC State Extension's table, and University of Georgia Extension adds 18 days to harvest, so 98 days must pass before frost. In Gilbert the last planting day is September 4 against the typical first frost on December 11, and August 17 against the early date on November 23.

That is 18 days between the typical and the early schedule; broccoli planted on the later of them risks a frost before harvest in one fall out of ten.

In spring the same family goes in earlier: counting from February 1, University of New Hampshire Extension puts cabbage transplants out on January 4, weeks ahead of the last frost.

About the Chandler Heights station

The station is 8.0 miles south-east of the Census Bureau's internal point for Gilbert, several miles out, so look at the nearest-station list in the frost dates tool before you rely on it.

At about 1,400 feet, it ranks above 80 and below 19 of the 100 stations used for these pages. NOAA flags this station's record as representative, the code R, for the data behind its 50% last-frost value.

No elevation is available for Gilbert in the Census data we saved, so the station's height may or may not match your garden's. Compare nearby stations in the frost dates tool if it does not, and err toward the colder dates.

Nearby cities and their frost dates

All three of the closest cities on these pages are within a hundred miles, led by Mesa, AZ at 6.4 miles, so their differences show how much a few miles can move a frost date.

• Mesa, AZ, 6.4 miles to the north: last frost February 1, first frost December 10, 312 days frost-free; its last frost is nearly the same as Gilbert's, and frost-free days differ from Gilbert's by less than a week.
• Chandler, AZ lies 6.6 miles west of Gilbert. Typical last frost February 13, first frost December 5, 298 days between; the last frost is 12 days later than in Gilbert, and it has 17 days less without frost.
• Scottsdale, AZ, 27 miles to the north: last frost January 27, first frost December 21, 330 days frost-free; its last frost comes 5 days before Gilbert's, and it has 15 days more without frost.

Put the frost dates to work

To go beyond the crops above, use the spring planting planner and fall planting planner, both set to this station. The frost dates tool shows the full odds for Gilbert, and the hardiness zone lookup gives the winter-cold zone for your ZIP code.

Every city covered is on the city frost dates index, sorted by state.

Where these numbers come from

NOAA's U.S. Climate Normals for 1991–2020 (doi:10.25921/4ek7-fk11) supply every frost date here, unchanged from the station's record, and NOAA's documentation defines the probabilities. The city and its internal point come from the Census Bureau's 2024 Gazetteer of places, and the ranking by size from the Census Bureau's Vintage 2024 city and town population estimates, which put Gilbert at 288,790 people.

Planting dates here are those rules from University of New Hampshire Extension, NC State Extension and University of Georgia Extension, applied to this station's frost dates and nothing else. See how we source every figure for the checks behind them.

NOAA's dates say how often frost has come, not when it will. Check the forecast before planting and keep a cover on hand.