diff --git a/moto/ec2/models.py b/moto/ec2/models.py
index 25f32bc76..3549c29fe 100644
--- a/moto/ec2/models.py
+++ b/moto/ec2/models.py
@@ -1695,11 +1695,12 @@ class VPCPeeringConnectionBackend(object):
 
 
 class Subnet(TaggedEC2Resource):
-    def __init__(self, ec2_backend, subnet_id, vpc_id, cidr_block):
+    def __init__(self, ec2_backend, subnet_id, vpc_id, cidr_block, availability_zone):
         self.ec2_backend = ec2_backend
         self.id = subnet_id
         self.vpc_id = vpc_id
         self.cidr_block = cidr_block
+        self._availability_zone = availability_zone
 
     @classmethod
     def create_from_cloudformation_json(cls, resource_name, cloudformation_json, region_name):
@@ -1715,21 +1716,42 @@ class Subnet(TaggedEC2Resource):
 
     @property
     def availability_zone(self):
-        # This could probably be smarter, but there doesn't appear to be a
-        # way to pull AZs for a region in boto
-        return self.ec2_backend.region_name + "a"
+        if self._availability_zone is None:
+            # This could probably be smarter, but there doesn't appear to be a
+            # way to pull AZs for a region in boto
+            return self.ec2_backend.region_name + "a"
+        else:
+            return self._availability_zone
 
     @property
     def physical_resource_id(self):
         return self.id
 
     def get_filter_value(self, filter_name):
+        """
+        API Version 2014-10-01 defines the following filters for DescribeSubnets:
+
+        * availabilityZone
+        * available-ip-address-count
+        * cidrBlock
+        * defaultForAz
+        * state
+        * subnet-id
+        * tag:key=value
+        * tag-key
+        * tag-value
+        * vpc-id
+
+        Taken from: http://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/APIReference/API_DescribeSubnets.html
+        """
         if filter_name in ['cidr', 'cidrBlock', 'cidr-block']:
             return self.cidr_block
         elif filter_name == 'vpc-id':
             return self.vpc_id
         elif filter_name == 'subnet-id':
             return self.id
+        elif filter_name == 'availabilityZone':
+            return self.availability_zone
 
         filter_value = super(Subnet, self).get_filter_value(filter_name)
 
@@ -1756,9 +1778,9 @@ class SubnetBackend(object):
             raise InvalidSubnetIdError(subnet_id)
         return subnet
 
-    def create_subnet(self, vpc_id, cidr_block):
+    def create_subnet(self, vpc_id, cidr_block, availability_zone=None):
         subnet_id = random_subnet_id()
-        subnet = Subnet(self, subnet_id, vpc_id, cidr_block)
+        subnet = Subnet(self, subnet_id, vpc_id, cidr_block, availability_zone)
         self.get_vpc(vpc_id)  # Validate VPC exists
 
         # AWS associates a new subnet with the default Network ACL
diff --git a/moto/ec2/responses/subnets.py b/moto/ec2/responses/subnets.py
index 9f0808648..f0cd6db33 100644
--- a/moto/ec2/responses/subnets.py
+++ b/moto/ec2/responses/subnets.py
@@ -7,7 +7,15 @@ class Subnets(BaseResponse):
     def create_subnet(self):
         vpc_id = self.querystring.get('VpcId')[0]
         cidr_block = self.querystring.get('CidrBlock')[0]
-        subnet = self.ec2_backend.create_subnet(vpc_id, cidr_block)
+        if 'AvailabilityZone' in self.querystring:
+            availability_zone = self.querystring['AvailabilityZone'][0]
+        else:
+            availability_zone = None
+        subnet = self.ec2_backend.create_subnet(
+          vpc_id,
+          cidr_block,
+          availability_zone,
+        )
         template = self.response_template(CREATE_SUBNET_RESPONSE)
         return template.render(subnet=subnet)
 
diff --git a/tests/test_ec2/test_subnets.py b/tests/test_ec2/test_subnets.py
index c26267405..e148eac61 100644
--- a/tests/test_ec2/test_subnets.py
+++ b/tests/test_ec2/test_subnets.py
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ import tests.backport_assert_raises
 from nose.tools import assert_raises
 
 import boto
+import boto.vpc
 from boto.exception import EC2ResponseError
 import sure  # noqa
 
@@ -62,12 +63,12 @@ def test_subnet_tagging():
 
 @mock_ec2
 def test_get_subnets_filtering():
-    conn = boto.connect_vpc('the_key', 'the_secret')
+    conn = boto.vpc.connect_to_region('us-west-1')
     vpcA = conn.create_vpc("10.0.0.0/16")
-    subnetA = conn.create_subnet(vpcA.id, "10.0.0.0/24")
+    subnetA = conn.create_subnet(vpcA.id, "10.0.0.0/24", availability_zone='us-west-1a')
     vpcB = conn.create_vpc("10.0.0.0/16")
-    subnetB1 = conn.create_subnet(vpcB.id, "10.0.0.0/24")
-    subnetB2 = conn.create_subnet(vpcB.id, "10.0.1.0/24")
+    subnetB1 = conn.create_subnet(vpcB.id, "10.0.0.0/24", availability_zone='us-west-1a')
+    subnetB2 = conn.create_subnet(vpcB.id, "10.0.1.0/24", availability_zone='us-west-1b')
 
     all_subnets = conn.get_all_subnets()
     all_subnets.should.have.length_of(3)
@@ -100,5 +101,10 @@ def test_get_subnets_filtering():
     subnets_by_id.should.have.length_of(1)
     set([subnet.id for subnet in subnets_by_id]).should.equal(set([subnetA.id]))
 
+    # Filter by availabilityZone
+    subnets_by_az = conn.get_all_subnets(filters={'availabilityZone': 'us-west-1a', 'vpc-id': vpcB.id})
+    subnets_by_az.should.have.length_of(1)
+    set([subnet.id for subnet in subnets_by_az]).should.equal(set([subnetB1.id]))
+
     # Unsupported filter
     conn.get_all_subnets.when.called_with(filters={'not-implemented-filter': 'foobar'}).should.throw(NotImplementedError)