Frost Dates: First and last frost dates for Irwinton, 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 27. 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 25, so we don't dare plant that early. We wait a few days and by April 7 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° | Feb 20 | Feb 8 | Jan 31 | Jan 23 | Jan 14 | Jan 3 | -- | -- | -- |
Last 20° | Feb 27 | Feb 18 | Feb 12 | Feb 7 | Feb 2 | Jan 27 | Jan 20 | Jan 10 | -- |
Last 24° | Mar 8 | Feb 28 | Feb 22 | Feb 17 | Feb 12 | Feb 7 | Feb 2 | Jan 28 | Jan 19 |
Last 28° | Mar 23 | Mar 14 | Mar 8 | Mar 3 | Feb 26 | Feb 20 | Feb 15 | Feb 9 | Jan 31 |
Last 32° | Apr 9 | Apr 1 | Mar 27 | Mar 22 | Mar 17 | Mar 13 | Mar 8 | Mar 2 | Feb 22 |
Last 36° | Apr 27 | Apr 20 | Apr 15 | Apr 11 | Apr 7 | Apr 3 | Mar 30 | Mar 25 | Mar 18 |
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 5.
- There is a 50% chance of being hit by a 32° frost starting around November 16
- You have a 80% chance of seeing 32° by November 27
- 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 19 | Dec 31 | Jan 9 | Jan 18 | Jan 27 | Feb 8 | -- | -- | -- |
First 20° | Dec 10 | Dec 19 | Dec 26 | Jan 1 | Jan 7 | Jan 13 | Jan 20 | Jan 31 | -- |
First 24° | Nov 29 | Dec 7 | Dec 14 | Dec 19 | Dec 24 | Dec 29 | Jan 4 | Jan 10 | Jan 19 |
First 28° | Nov 14 | Nov 20 | Nov 25 | Nov 30 | Dec 3 | Dec 7 | Dec 12 | Dec 16 | Dec 23 |
First 32° | Oct 31 | Nov 5 | Nov 9 | Nov 13 | Nov 16 | Nov 19 | Nov 23 | Nov 27 | Dec 2 |
First 36° | Oct 17 | Oct 24 | Oct 28 | Nov 1 | Nov 5 | Nov 9 | Nov 13 | Nov 17 | Nov 24 |
Data is provided by the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information.