Frost Dates: First and last frost dates for Beltsville, 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 16. 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 26, so we don't dare plant that early. We wait a few days and by May 4 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 12 Mar 5 Feb 28 Feb 24 Feb 20 Feb 16 Feb 12 Feb 7 Jan 31
Last 20° Mar 27 Mar 22 Mar 18 Mar 15 Mar 12 Mar 9 Mar 5 Mar 2 Feb 25
Last 24° Apr 7 Apr 2 Mar 29 Mar 26 Mar 23 Mar 20 Mar 16 Mar 13 Mar 7
Last 28° Apr 19 Apr 14 Apr 11 Apr 8 Apr 5 Apr 2 Mar 30 Mar 27 Mar 22
Last 32° May 1 Apr 26 Apr 23 Apr 21 Apr 18 Apr 16 Apr 13 Apr 10 Apr 5
Last 36° May 16 May 12 May 9 May 6 May 4 May 1 Apr 29 Apr 26 Apr 22

How to read these charts for the fall
As your growing season comes to an end, the nightly temperatures for Beltsville, 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 9, and by October 31 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 13.
  2. There is a 50% chance of being hit by a 32° frost starting around October 22
  3. You have a 80% chance of seeing 32° by October 31
  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 1 Dec 7 Dec 11 Dec 14 Dec 18 Dec 21 Dec 24 Dec 29 Jan 3
First 20° Nov 17 Nov 24 Nov 29 Dec 3 Dec 7 Dec 11 Dec 16 Dec 21 Dec 28
First 24° Nov 2 Nov 7 Nov 11 Nov 15 Nov 18 Nov 21 Nov 25 Nov 29 Dec 4
First 28° Oct 16 Oct 21 Oct 24 Oct 28 Oct 30 Nov 2 Nov 5 Nov 9 Nov 14
First 32° Oct 9 Oct 13 Oct 17 Oct 19 Oct 22 Oct 25 Oct 27 Oct 31 Nov 4
First 36° Sep 30 Oct 4 Oct 7 Oct 10 Oct 12 Oct 15 Oct 17 Oct 20 Oct 25

Frost Dates for other nearby locations
  • Laurel, MD
  • Glenn Dale Bell Stn, MD
  • Natl Arboretum Dc, MD
  • Clarksville, MD
  • Dalecarlia Rsvr, MD
  • Washington Reagan, VA
  • Upper Marlboro, MD
  • Rockville, MD
  • Baltimore Wash, MD
  • Vienna, VA

    Or enter a new zipcode:

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