Frost Dates: First and last frost dates for Livingston, MT

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 June 29. 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 May 30, so we don't dare plant that early. We wait a few days and by June 11 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 23 Apr 16 Apr 10 Apr 5 Apr 1 Mar 28 Mar 23 Mar 17 Mar 10
Last 20° Apr 24 Apr 19 Apr 15 Apr 12 Apr 9 Apr 6 Apr 3 Mar 30 Mar 25
Last 24° May 10 May 4 Apr 30 Apr 27 Apr 23 Apr 20 Apr 17 Apr 12 Apr 7
Last 28° May 23 May 18 May 14 May 10 May 7 May 4 Apr 30 Apr 26 Apr 20
Last 32° Jun 9 Jun 4 May 31 May 29 May 26 May 23 May 20 May 17 May 12
Last 36° Jun 29 Jun 23 Jun 18 Jun 15 Jun 11 Jun 7 Jun 3 May 30 May 24

How to read these charts for the fall
As your growing season comes to an end, the nightly temperatures for Livingston, MT 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 4, and by September 23 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 16
  3. You have a 80% chance of seeing 32° by September 23
  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 13 Oct 19 Oct 23 Oct 26 Oct 30 Nov 2 Nov 6 Nov 10 Nov 16
First 20° Sep 30 Oct 6 Oct 10 Oct 14 Oct 17 Oct 21 Oct 24 Oct 29 Nov 4
First 24° Sep 21 Sep 26 Sep 30 Oct 3 Oct 6 Oct 9 Oct 12 Oct 16 Oct 21
First 28° Sep 10 Sep 15 Sep 19 Sep 22 Sep 25 Sep 28 Oct 1 Oct 4 Oct 9
First 32° Sep 4 Sep 8 Sep 11 Sep 13 Sep 16 Sep 18 Sep 20 Sep 23 Sep 27
First 36° Aug 25 Aug 29 Sep 2 Sep 5 Sep 7 Sep 10 Sep 13 Sep 16 Sep 21

Frost Dates for other nearby locations
  • Wilsall, MT
  • Bozeman Montana St U, MT
  • Big Timber, MT
  • Bozeman, MT
  • Bozeman Gallatin Fld, MT
  • Melville, MT
  • Gardiner, MT
  • Lennep, MT
  • Yellowstone Pk Mammoth, WY
  • Tower Falls, WY

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