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Frost dates for Nagoya, Japan

Half of years have their last spring frost by March 27, but 1 year in 10 still frosts after April 4.

A frost date is really a percentile, here from 30 years (1991 to 2020) of a weather model’s daily lows near Nagoya: in about half of years a frost still comes after the median date. Both numbers are below, so you can choose the risk yourself.

The odds

Last spring frost

How often a frost still comes on or after each date.

1 year in 10
April 4
1 year in 5
April 3
3 years in 10
March 31
2 years in 5
March 29
Half of years (the median)
March 27

First fall freeze

Half of years (the median)
December 11
Growing season
about 259 days
Hardiness zone nearby
9a, estimated from the weather model

Where these numbers come from

Modeled, not measured. No weather station stands behind these dates. They come from ERA5, a reconstruction of the world’s weather from 1991 to 2020 made by ECMWF, Europe’s medium-range weather forecasting agency, for the EU’s Copernicus program, and read here through Open-Meteo. They are the model’s daily lows for the point at 35.25, 136.75, 18 km (11 miles) from the center of Nagoya. A frost here means a low at or below 0 °C (32 °F).

A weather model sees the land in squares about 25 km (16 miles) across, so it can miss what sets one garden apart from the next: a frost hollow, a hillside, a lakeshore, a city’s own warmth. The Milpa planner reads these same numbers for a garden here and grades them A good hunch.

Cold air also pools in low ground on the clear, still nights when frost happens, so a hollow can freeze while a slope a few hundred feet away does not. No table can know that about your garden. Your own logged frosts eventually can.

Weather data by Open-Meteo.com, under CC BY 4.0. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information, 2026.

What can I plant here, and when? ›

Nearby cities

The nearest cities with a frost page here, and how their last-frost dates compare.

Other cities in Japan.

All locations · Frost dates in Japan · All plants