Frost Dates: First and last frost dates for Ft Stewart, GA
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 7. 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 9, so we don't dare plant that early. We wait a few days and by March 21 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 22 | Jan 9 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
Last 20° | Feb 8 | Jan 30 | Jan 22 | Jan 15 | Jan 5 | -- | -- | -- | -- |
Last 24° | Feb 26 | Feb 17 | Feb 11 | Feb 5 | Jan 31 | Jan 25 | Jan 17 | Jan 3 | -- |
Last 28° | Mar 8 | Mar 1 | Feb 24 | Feb 20 | Feb 16 | Feb 12 | Feb 8 | Feb 3 | Jan 28 |
Last 32° | Mar 22 | Mar 15 | Mar 10 | Mar 6 | Mar 1 | Feb 25 | Feb 21 | Feb 16 | Feb 8 |
Last 36° | Apr 7 | Apr 1 | Mar 28 | Mar 24 | Mar 21 | Mar 17 | Mar 13 | Mar 9 | Mar 3 |
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 13.
- There is a 50% chance of being hit by a 32° frost starting around November 26
- You have a 80% chance of seeing 32° by December 8
- 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° | Jan 9 | Jan 24 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
First 20° | Dec 23 | Jan 4 | Jan 13 | Jan 23 | Feb 3 | -- | -- | -- | -- |
First 24° | Dec 10 | Dec 20 | Dec 27 | Jan 2 | Jan 8 | Jan 15 | Jan 24 | Feb 8 | -- |
First 28° | Nov 20 | Nov 30 | Dec 8 | Dec 14 | Dec 20 | Dec 26 | Jan 2 | Jan 10 | Jan 20 |
First 32° | Nov 7 | Nov 13 | Nov 18 | Nov 22 | Nov 26 | Nov 30 | Dec 4 | Dec 8 | Dec 15 |
First 36° | Nov 1 | Nov 6 | Nov 9 | Nov 12 | Nov 15 | Nov 18 | Nov 21 | Nov 24 | Nov 29 |
Data is provided by the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information.