Frost Dates: First and last frost dates for Fort Drum, FL
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 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 January 25, so we don't dare plant that early. We wait a few days and by February 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.
| Temperature | 10% | 20% | 30% | 40% | 50% | 60% | 70% | 80% | 90% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Last 16° | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| Last 20° | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| Last 24° | Jan 28 | Jan 11 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| Last 28° | Feb 20 | Feb 8 | Jan 28 | Jan 15 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| Last 32° | Mar 4 | Feb 21 | Feb 14 | Feb 7 | Jan 31 | Jan 24 | Jan 15 | Jan 2 | -- |
| Last 36° | Mar 19 | Mar 9 | Mar 1 | Feb 22 | Feb 16 | Feb 9 | Feb 2 | Jan 25 | Jan 11 |
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 December 20.
- There is a 50% chance of being hit by a 32° frost starting around January 7
- You have a 80% chance of seeing 32° by January 31
- 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° | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| First 20° | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| First 24° | Jan 11 | Jan 28 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| First 28° | Dec 23 | Jan 4 | Jan 14 | Jan 25 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| First 32° | Dec 11 | Dec 20 | Dec 27 | Jan 1 | Jan 7 | Jan 13 | Jan 20 | Jan 31 | -- |
| First 36° | Nov 25 | Dec 7 | Dec 15 | Dec 23 | Dec 29 | Jan 5 | Jan 13 | Jan 22 | Feb 5 |
Data is provided by the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information.