Frost Dates: First and last frost dates for Assateague, MD

How to read these charts for the spring
As the growing season approaches, the days get longer, the weather begins to warm up, and the nights start being less cold. You're still getting frost, but the chance of nightly frosts gets less and less with each passing day. Eventually, the frost stops, and this is when your tender plants are fully safe. So, how do you plan for this? The probabilities on this page help you assess your risk of frost on any given day.

What's a safe temperature for tender plants? When the nightly temperature falls, frost can form, even above 32°, because the air is colder high above the ground and the frost can form up there and then fall down onto your garden and do some damage, even if it's 36° on the ground. So many factors come into play, including wind, concrete, houses, trees and other structures, etc etc etc. Because of all this, you might want to consider 36° as "the danger zone".

In your average springtime, you have a 90% chance that there will be no 36° nights by May 1. In other words, you can pretty much count on being safe from frost by that day. But we want to get those tomatoes in the ground as soon as possible, right? We see that there's still an 80% chance of 36° on April 6, so we don't dare plant that early. We wait a few days and by April 16 we are at the 50/50 point. At this point, we are close and we can start watching the weather forecast. If the upcoming week's forecast doesn't show below 40°, then it's probably okay to risk planting out your plants.

In the Spring
Temperature 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90%
Last 16° Mar 10 Mar 1 Feb 22 Feb 17 Feb 11 Feb 6 Jan 31 Jan 23 Jan 9
Last 20° Mar 25 Mar 17 Mar 11 Mar 6 Mar 1 Feb 24 Feb 18 Feb 12 Feb 2
Last 24° Mar 31 Mar 25 Mar 21 Mar 17 Mar 13 Mar 10 Mar 6 Mar 1 Feb 23
Last 28° Apr 12 Apr 5 Mar 31 Mar 27 Mar 24 Mar 20 Mar 16 Mar 11 Mar 5
Last 32° Apr 20 Apr 15 Apr 12 Apr 8 Apr 5 Apr 2 Mar 30 Mar 26 Mar 21
Last 36° May 1 Apr 26 Apr 22 Apr 19 Apr 16 Apr 13 Apr 10 Apr 6 Apr 1

How to read these charts for the fall
As your growing season comes to an end, the nightly temperatures for Assateague, MD start to go down, and therefore every day that goes by increases the chance that you'll get frost. Your risk of frost really begins around October 20, and by November 20 you're almost certain to have received at least one frost event.

The charts on this page show the probabilities of receiving a certain temperature on a certain day. Some examples that might help:

  1. You have a small 20% chance of getting 32° by October 26.
  2. There is a 50% chance of being hit by a 32° frost starting around November 8
  3. You have a 80% chance of seeing 32° by November 20
  4. Said another way, you have a 1 in 5 chance at making it to that day without a 32° night.
In the Fall
Temperature 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90%
First 16° Dec 13 Dec 21 Dec 27 Jan 2 Jan 7 Jan 12 Jan 18 Jan 25 Feb 8
First 20° Dec 1 Dec 7 Dec 12 Dec 16 Dec 19 Dec 23 Dec 27 Jan 1 Jan 9
First 24° Nov 17 Nov 24 Nov 29 Dec 3 Dec 7 Dec 11 Dec 15 Dec 20 Dec 27
First 28° Nov 4 Nov 11 Nov 16 Nov 20 Nov 24 Nov 28 Dec 3 Dec 8 Dec 15
First 32° Oct 20 Oct 26 Oct 31 Nov 4 Nov 8 Nov 11 Nov 15 Nov 20 Nov 26
First 36° Oct 15 Oct 20 Oct 23 Oct 27 Oct 29 Nov 1 Nov 4 Nov 8 Nov 13

Frost Dates for other nearby locations
  • Snow Hill, MD
  • Salisbury, MD
  • Salisbury, MD
  • Princess Anne, MD
  • Lewes, DE
  • Vienna, MD
  • Painter, VA
  • Tangier Island, VA
  • Milford, DE
  • Cape May, NJ

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    • Data is provided by the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information.