Frost Dates: First and last frost dates for Carville, LA

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 March 26. 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 February 19, so we don't dare plant that early. We wait a few days and by March 5 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° Jan 5 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Last 20° Jan 22 Jan 10 -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Last 24° Feb 13 Feb 2 Jan 24 Jan 15 Jan 4 -- -- -- --
Last 28° Mar 1 Feb 18 Feb 9 Feb 2 Jan 26 Jan 18 Jan 8 Dec 21 --
Last 32° Mar 12 Mar 4 Feb 26 Feb 21 Feb 17 Feb 12 Feb 8 Feb 2 Jan 25
Last 36° Mar 26 Mar 19 Mar 14 Mar 9 Mar 5 Mar 1 Feb 24 Feb 19 Feb 11

How to read these charts for the fall
As your growing season comes to an end, the nightly temperatures for Carville, LA 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 November 11, and by December 15 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 November 18.
  2. There is a 50% chance of being hit by a 32° frost starting around December 2
  3. You have a 80% chance of seeing 32° by December 15
  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° Jan 10 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
First 20° Jan 6 Jan 18 -- -- -- -- -- -- --
First 24° Dec 15 Dec 27 Jan 6 Jan 15 Jan 29 -- -- -- --
First 28° Dec 3 Dec 9 Dec 14 Dec 19 Dec 23 Dec 28 Jan 3 Jan 14 --
First 32° Nov 11 Nov 18 Nov 23 Nov 28 Dec 2 Dec 6 Dec 10 Dec 15 Dec 23
First 36° Nov 5 Nov 12 Nov 16 Nov 20 Nov 24 Nov 27 Dec 1 Dec 6 Dec 12

Frost Dates for other nearby locations
  • Donaldsonville, LA
  • Lsu Ben-hur Farm, LA
  • Baton Rouge Metro, LA
  • Morgan City, LA
  • Reserve, LA
  • New Roads, LA
  • Franklin, LA
  • Houma, LA
  • Jeanerette, LA
  • Amite, LA

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