Frost Dates: First and last frost dates for Centerville, TX
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 April 19. 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 March 19, so we don't dare plant that early. We wait a few days and by March 31 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.
Temperature | 10% | 20% | 30% | 40% | 50% | 60% | 70% | 80% | 90% |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Last 16° | Jan 31 | Jan 21 | Jan 14 | Jan 5 | Dec 25 | -- | -- | -- | -- |
Last 20° | Feb 27 | Feb 16 | Feb 9 | Feb 2 | Jan 26 | Jan 19 | Jan 10 | Dec 24 | -- |
Last 24° | Mar 10 | Mar 1 | Feb 22 | Feb 16 | Feb 10 | Feb 5 | Jan 30 | Jan 23 | Jan 13 |
Last 28° | Mar 25 | Mar 16 | Mar 10 | Mar 5 | Feb 28 | Feb 24 | Feb 18 | Feb 12 | Feb 4 |
Last 32° | Apr 7 | Mar 31 | Mar 25 | Mar 21 | Mar 17 | Mar 12 | Mar 8 | Mar 2 | Feb 23 |
Last 36° | Apr 19 | Apr 12 | Apr 8 | Apr 4 | Mar 31 | Mar 27 | Mar 23 | Mar 19 | Mar 12 |
The charts on this page show the probabilities of receiving a certain temperature on a certain day. Some examples that might help:
- You have a small 20% chance of getting 32° by November 3.
- There is a 50% chance of being hit by a 32° frost starting around November 14
- You have a 80% chance of seeing 32° by November 25
- Said another way, you have a 1 in 5 chance at making it to that day without a 32° night.
Temperature | 10% | 20% | 30% | 40% | 50% | 60% | 70% | 80% | 90% |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
First 16° | Dec 8 | Dec 21 | Jan 1 | Jan 12 | Jan 28 | -- | -- | -- | -- |
First 20° | Nov 24 | Dec 6 | Dec 15 | Dec 23 | Dec 31 | Jan 8 | Jan 20 | -- | -- |
First 24° | Nov 19 | Nov 27 | Dec 4 | Dec 9 | Dec 14 | Dec 19 | Dec 24 | Dec 30 | Jan 8 |
First 28° | Nov 8 | Nov 15 | Nov 20 | Nov 23 | Nov 27 | Dec 1 | Dec 5 | Dec 10 | Dec 16 |
First 32° | Oct 28 | Nov 3 | Nov 7 | Nov 11 | Nov 14 | Nov 18 | Nov 21 | Nov 25 | Dec 1 |
First 36° | Oct 16 | Oct 22 | Oct 27 | Oct 30 | Nov 3 | Nov 6 | Nov 10 | Nov 14 | Nov 20 |
Data is provided by the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information.