Gala (Apple): 500 chill hours

Gala needs roughly 500 chill hours below 45°F to break dormancy properly. Of the 150 fruit-growing locations tracked here, 112 reach that comfortably in an average winter and 9 are marginal.

Chill requirement

Variety	Species	Requirement	Source
Gala	Apple	500 hours (45°F Hours model)	extension.arizona.edu

Requirements are the representative 45°F-hours figures bundled with ChillCast, each taken from the published source linked above. Nurseries publish slightly different numbers for the same variety, so treat this as a mid-range value.

Where Gala gets enough chill

Each location is compared with its ten-season average chill from NASA POWER. A location fits when the requirement is at or below 90% of its average, and is marginal up to 110%. Locations with their own page are linked; the rest are listed for comparison.

Australia

Fits (17)

Location	Region	Average chill
Huonville	Tasmania	1700 hours
Batlow	New South Wales	1604 hours
Orange	New South Wales	1494 hours
Bathurst	New South Wales	1494 hours
Healesville	Victoria	1440 hours
Launceston	Tasmania	1342 hours
Bacchus Marsh	Victoria	1317 hours
Young	New South Wales	1264 hours
Ararat	Victoria	1246 hours
Shepparton	Victoria	1141 hours
Cobram	Victoria	982 hours
Griffith	New South Wales	886 hours
Clare	South Australia	748 hours
Hobart	Tasmania	707 hours
Loxton	South Australia	582 hours
Mildura	Victoria	578 hours
Stanthorpe	Queensland	576 hours

Marginal (1)

Location	Region	Average chill
Renmark	South Australia	542 hours

Canada

Fits (8)

Location	Region	Average chill
Vancouver	British Columbia	1984 hours
Abbotsford	British Columbia	1965 hours
Victoria	British Columbia	1888 hours
Niagara-on-the-Lake	Ontario	1457 hours
Toronto	Ontario	1457 hours
St. Catharines	Ontario	1303 hours
Simcoe	Ontario	1064 hours
Kentville	Nova Scotia	869 hours

Marginal (3)

Location	Region	Average chill
Oliver	British Columbia	466 hours
Osoyoos	British Columbia	466 hours
Kelowna	British Columbia	456 hours

New Zealand

Fits (5)

Location	Region	Average chill
Cromwell	Otago	1893 hours
Alexandra	Otago	1893 hours
Nelson	Nelson Region	1668 hours
Blenheim	Marlborough	1415 hours
Christchurch	Canterbury	1414 hours

South Africa

Fits (6)

Location	Region	Average chill
Ficksburg	Free State	1316 hours
Bethlehem	Free State	1115 hours
Ceres	Western Cape	885 hours
Wolseley	Western Cape	885 hours
Worcester	Western Cape	885 hours
Johannesburg	Gauteng	769 hours

Marginal (3)

Location	Region	Average chill
Villiersdorp	Western Cape	531 hours
Caledon	Western Cape	531 hours
Robertson	Western Cape	499 hours

Spain

Fits (13)

Location	Region	Average chill
León	Castille and León	1712 hours
Calatayud	Aragon	1585 hours
Logroño	La Rioja	1539 hours
Madrid	Madrid	1473 hours
Albacete	Castille-La Mancha	1336 hours
Lleida	Catalonia	1208 hours
Zaragoza	Aragon	1179 hours
Badajoz	Extremadura	918 hours
Valencia	Valencia	723 hours
Granada	Andalusia	711 hours
Sevilla	Andalusia	628 hours
Murcia	Murcia	605 hours
Cieza	Murcia	605 hours

Marginal (1)

Location	Region	Average chill
Huelva	Andalusia	550 hours

Turkey

Fits (13)

Location	Region	Average chill
Isparta	Isparta	1466 hours
Eğirdir	Isparta	1466 hours
Karaman	Karaman	1429 hours
İnegol	Bursa Province	1339 hours
Konya	Konya	1330 hours
Malatya	Malatya	1329 hours
Ankara	Ankara	1301 hours
Amasya	Amasya	1292 hours
Niğde	Niğde Province	1291 hours
Denizli	Denizli	1279 hours
Bursa	Bursa Province	1250 hours
Antalya	Antalya	629 hours
Erzincan	Erzincan	602 hours

United States

Fits (50)

Location	Region	Average chill
Mount Vernon	Washington	2084 hours
Seattle	Washington	1949 hours
Portland	Oregon	1814 hours
Medford	Oregon	1706 hours
Salem	Oregon	1706 hours
Hood River	Oregon	1569 hours
The Dalles	Oregon	1569 hours
Prosser	Washington	1478 hours
Walla Walla	Washington	1375 hours
Caldwell	Idaho	1332 hours
Hammonton	New Jersey	1272 hours
Boise	Idaho	1258 hours
Yakima	Washington	1223 hours
Benton Harbor	Michigan	1202 hours
Erie	Pennsylvania	1190 hours
Winchester	Virginia	1176 hours
Charlottesville	Virginia	1160 hours
Spokane	Washington	1146 hours
Traverse City	Michigan	1134 hours
Biglerville	Pennsylvania	1124 hours
Hendersonville	North Carolina	1122 hours
Las Cruces	New Mexico	1070 hours
Geneva	New York	1058 hours
Spartanburg	South Carolina	1041 hours
Cornelia	Georgia	1037 hours
Willcox	Arizona	1033 hours
Rochester	New York	1031 hours
Lubbock	Texas	1021 hours
Napa	California	1016 hours
Bakersfield	California	996 hours
Salt Lake City	Utah	938 hours
Grand Rapids	Michigan	937 hours
Wenatchee	Washington	924 hours
Edgefield	South Carolina	916 hours
Atlanta	Georgia	912 hours
Davis	California	910 hours
Modesto	California	901 hours
Hollister	California	862 hours
Dallas	Texas	842 hours
Chico	California	834 hours
Stockton	California	760 hours
Palisade	Colorado	758 hours
Fort Valley	Georgia	748 hours
Sacramento	California	725 hours
Fresno	California	706 hours
Fredericksburg	Texas	679 hours
Chelan	Washington	608 hours
Paso Robles	California	580 hours
Visalia	California	560 hours
Riverside	California	558 hours

Marginal (1)

Location	Region	Average chill
Watsonville	California	555 hours

Other apple varieties

Dorsett Golden — 100 hours
Einshemer — 100 hours
Anna — 200 hours
Beverly Hills — 300 hours
Pettingill — 300 hours
Fuji — 400 hours
Gordon — 400 hours
Granny Smith — 400 hours
Pink Lady — 550 hours
Braeburn — 700 hours
Golden Delicious — 700 hours
Gravenstein — 700 hours
Jonagold — 750 hours
Jonathan — 750 hours
Honeycrisp — 800 hours
Cortland — 800 hours
Cox Orange Pippin — 800 hours
Liberty — 800 hours
Winesap — 800 hours
McIntosh — 900 hours
Rome Beauty — 1000 hours

All varieties

Track this season in ChillCast

ChillCast tracks this season's chill against the 500 hours Gala needs, wherever you grow it.

View ChillCast on the App Store

Generated

This page was generated on 2026-09-06.

About this data

Values are NASA POWER regional estimates (about 0.5° grid), not orchard measurements. Check your local extension service for station data.

Source: NASA POWER hourly 2-metre air temperature (MERRA-2). NASA does not endorse ChillCast.