Chill Hour Calculator

How many chill hours your location has had this winter, against the average winter. Pick a fruit tree, berry or nut to see its chill needs and how cold it takes. For heat and harvest timing, use the Degree Day Calculator.

About this tool: chill hours and the models

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About this tool: chill hours and the models

What a chill hour is

Fruit trees, many berries and nut trees need a winter's worth of cold before they bloom well, and nurseries rate each variety in chill hours: hours spent between 32 and 45 °F. Too few and buds open late and unevenly; that's why growers in mild winters pick low-chill varieties. This tool tallies this winter's hours from October 1 against the average winter. Each day's hours are estimated from its high and low, with the temperature taken as a smooth curve through the day, so a day from 30 to 50 °F counts about 11 hours. It works for US locations for now, using weather records and the average winter.

Too much chill doesn't hurt; a rating is a minimum. What stops a fruit crop in a cold place is the cold itself, so this tool also shows the coldest nights: this winter's so far, and the typical and coldest of the past ten winters, against how cold the crop takes. A variety rated for your zone, snow cover and a sheltered spot all help, and plants that meet their chill early can leaf out in a warm spell and lose the year's flowers to a late frost.

Where the numbers come from

  • This winter: daily highs and lows from the PRISM climate grid (about 4 km), served by the NOAA Regional Climate Centers' ACIS. Yesterday is the latest day.
  • The average winter: the last ten full winters of daily highs and lows from the same PRISM grid, counted exactly the way this winter is, so the two compare like for like.

Sources for the models

Chill ratings are regional guides. Check the nursery tag for the variety you buy, and ask your local Extension office which varieties do well near you.