Frost Dates: First and last frost dates for Healdton, OK
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 5. 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 2, so we don't dare plant that early. We wait a few days and by April 15 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° | Mar 2 | Feb 22 | Feb 16 | Feb 11 | Feb 6 | Feb 1 | Jan 27 | Jan 19 | -- |
Last 20° | Mar 17 | Mar 8 | Mar 1 | Feb 24 | Feb 19 | Feb 14 | Feb 8 | Feb 2 | Jan 24 |
Last 24° | Apr 2 | Mar 25 | Mar 18 | Mar 13 | Mar 8 | Mar 3 | Feb 25 | Feb 19 | Feb 10 |
Last 28° | Apr 11 | Apr 5 | Apr 1 | Mar 29 | Mar 25 | Mar 22 | Mar 18 | Mar 14 | Mar 8 |
Last 32° | Apr 21 | Apr 15 | Apr 10 | Apr 7 | Apr 3 | Mar 31 | Mar 27 | Mar 23 | Mar 17 |
Last 36° | May 5 | Apr 28 | Apr 23 | Apr 19 | Apr 15 | Apr 11 | Apr 7 | Apr 2 | Mar 26 |
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 October 20.
- There is a 50% chance of being hit by a 32° frost starting around October 30
- You have a 80% chance of seeing 32° by November 9
- 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° | Nov 23 | Dec 3 | Dec 10 | Dec 17 | Dec 23 | Dec 30 | Jan 6 | Jan 16 | -- |
First 20° | Nov 15 | Nov 22 | Nov 27 | Dec 2 | Dec 6 | Dec 10 | Dec 14 | Dec 19 | Dec 26 |
First 24° | Oct 31 | Nov 8 | Nov 13 | Nov 18 | Nov 22 | Nov 26 | Dec 1 | Dec 6 | Dec 14 |
First 28° | Oct 21 | Oct 28 | Nov 2 | Nov 6 | Nov 10 | Nov 14 | Nov 18 | Nov 23 | Nov 29 |
First 32° | Oct 15 | Oct 20 | Oct 24 | Oct 27 | Oct 30 | Nov 2 | Nov 5 | Nov 9 | Nov 14 |
First 36° | Oct 6 | Oct 12 | Oct 15 | Oct 18 | Oct 21 | Oct 24 | Oct 27 | Oct 31 | Nov 5 |
Data is provided by the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information.