Frost Dates: First and last frost dates for Martinsburg E Wv, WV
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 18. 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 23, so we don't dare plant that early. We wait a few days and by May 3 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 20 | Mar 12 | Mar 7 | Mar 2 | Feb 26 | Feb 22 | Feb 17 | Feb 12 | Feb 4 |
Last 20° | Mar 29 | Mar 23 | Mar 19 | Mar 15 | Mar 12 | Mar 8 | Mar 4 | Feb 28 | Feb 22 |
Last 24° | Apr 9 | Apr 4 | Apr 1 | Mar 29 | Mar 26 | Mar 24 | Mar 21 | Mar 18 | Mar 13 |
Last 28° | Apr 16 | Apr 11 | Apr 7 | Apr 4 | Apr 2 | Mar 30 | Mar 27 | Mar 23 | Mar 18 |
Last 32° | May 4 | Apr 29 | Apr 25 | Apr 22 | Apr 19 | Apr 17 | Apr 14 | Apr 10 | Apr 5 |
Last 36° | May 18 | May 13 | May 9 | May 6 | May 3 | Apr 30 | Apr 27 | Apr 23 | Apr 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 October 9.
- There is a 50% chance of being hit by a 32° frost starting around October 19
- You have a 80% chance of seeing 32° by October 29
- 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 25 | Dec 2 | Dec 7 | Dec 11 | Dec 15 | Dec 19 | Dec 24 | Dec 29 | Jan 5 |
First 20° | Nov 6 | Nov 13 | Nov 17 | Nov 21 | Nov 25 | Nov 28 | Dec 2 | Dec 7 | Dec 13 |
First 24° | Oct 28 | Nov 2 | Nov 6 | Nov 9 | Nov 12 | Nov 15 | Nov 18 | Nov 22 | Nov 27 |
First 28° | Oct 15 | Oct 19 | Oct 22 | Oct 25 | Oct 28 | Oct 30 | Nov 2 | Nov 6 | Nov 10 |
First 32° | Oct 3 | Oct 9 | Oct 12 | Oct 16 | Oct 19 | Oct 22 | Oct 25 | Oct 29 | Nov 3 |
First 36° | Sep 23 | Sep 27 | Sep 30 | Oct 3 | Oct 6 | Oct 8 | Oct 11 | Oct 14 | Oct 18 |
Data is provided by the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information.