Frost Dates: First and last frost dates for Lakewood, WI

How to read these charts for the fall
As your growing season comes to an end, the nightly temperatures for Lakewood, WI start to go down, and therefore every day that goes by increases the chance that you'll get frost. Your risk of frost really begins around September 3, and by September 28 you're almost certain to have received at least one frost event.

The charts on this page show the probabilities of receiving a certain temperature on a certain day. Some examples that might help:

  1. You have a small 20% chance of getting 32° by September 8.
  2. There is a 50% chance of being hit by a 32° frost starting around September 18
  3. You have a 80% chance of seeing 32° by September 28
  4. Said another way, you have a 1 in 5 chance at making it to that day without a 32° night.
In the Fall
Temperature 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90%
First 16° Oct 27 Nov 1 Nov 4 Nov 7 Nov 9 Nov 12 Nov 14 Nov 17 Nov 22
First 20° Oct 9 Oct 15 Oct 20 Oct 24 Oct 28 Oct 31 Nov 5 Nov 9 Nov 16
First 24° Sep 27 Oct 3 Oct 7 Oct 10 Oct 14 Oct 17 Oct 21 Oct 25 Oct 30
First 28° Sep 14 Sep 19 Sep 22 Sep 25 Sep 28 Oct 1 Oct 4 Oct 7 Oct 12
First 32° Sep 3 Sep 8 Sep 12 Sep 15 Sep 18 Sep 21 Sep 24 Sep 28 Oct 3
First 36° Aug 17 Aug 23 Aug 28 Sep 1 Sep 5 Sep 9 Sep 13 Sep 17 Sep 24

How to read these charts for the spring
As the growing season approaches, the days get longer, the weather begins to warm up, and the nights start being less cold. You're still getting frost, but the chance of nightly frosts gets less and less with each passing day. Eventually, the frost stops, and this is when your tender plants are fully safe. So, how do you plan for this? The probabilities on this page help you assess your risk of frost on any given day.

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 July 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 June 1, so we don't dare plant that early. We wait a few days and by June 14 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.

In the Spring
Temperature 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90%
Last 16° Apr 21 Apr 16 Apr 13 Apr 10 Apr 7 Apr 5 Apr 2 Mar 29 Mar 25
Last 20° Apr 27 Apr 23 Apr 20 Apr 17 Apr 15 Apr 13 Apr 10 Apr 7 Apr 3
Last 24° May 11 May 7 May 3 Apr 30 Apr 28 Apr 25 Apr 22 Apr 19 Apr 14
Last 28° May 31 May 26 May 22 May 19 May 16 May 13 May 10 May 7 May 2
Last 32° Jun 17 Jun 11 Jun 6 Jun 2 May 30 May 26 May 23 May 18 May 12
Last 36° Jul 5 Jun 28 Jun 23 Jun 18 Jun 14 Jun 10 Jun 6 Jun 1 May 25

Data is provided by the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information.