Frost Dates: First and last frost dates for Mc Curtain, 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 April 26. 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 3, so we don't dare plant that early. We wait a few days and by April 12 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 7 | Feb 24 | Feb 16 | Feb 10 | Feb 3 | Jan 28 | Jan 21 | Jan 14 | Jan 3 |
Last 20° | Mar 10 | Mar 3 | Feb 25 | Feb 20 | Feb 16 | Feb 12 | Feb 7 | Feb 1 | Jan 25 |
Last 24° | Mar 29 | Mar 20 | Mar 14 | Mar 8 | Mar 3 | Feb 26 | Feb 20 | Feb 14 | Feb 5 |
Last 28° | Apr 4 | Mar 28 | Mar 24 | Mar 20 | Mar 17 | Mar 13 | Mar 9 | Mar 5 | Feb 27 |
Last 32° | Apr 12 | Apr 7 | Apr 4 | Apr 1 | Mar 29 | Mar 27 | Mar 24 | Mar 20 | Mar 16 |
Last 36° | Apr 26 | Apr 22 | Apr 18 | Apr 15 | Apr 12 | Apr 10 | Apr 7 | Apr 3 | Mar 29 |
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 17.
- There is a 50% chance of being hit by a 32° frost starting around October 29
- You have a 80% chance of seeing 32° by November 10
- 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 18 | Nov 29 | Dec 6 | Dec 12 | Dec 18 | Dec 24 | Dec 30 | Jan 7 | Jan 17 |
First 20° | Nov 9 | Nov 17 | Nov 24 | Nov 29 | Dec 4 | Dec 9 | Dec 14 | Dec 20 | Dec 29 |
First 24° | Nov 1 | Nov 9 | Nov 15 | Nov 20 | Nov 24 | Nov 29 | Dec 4 | Dec 10 | Dec 18 |
First 28° | Oct 25 | Oct 31 | Nov 4 | Nov 8 | Nov 12 | Nov 15 | Nov 19 | Nov 23 | Nov 29 |
First 32° | Oct 11 | Oct 17 | Oct 22 | Oct 25 | Oct 29 | Nov 2 | Nov 5 | Nov 10 | Nov 16 |
First 36° | Oct 1 | Oct 7 | Oct 11 | Oct 14 | Oct 18 | Oct 21 | Oct 25 | Oct 29 | Nov 4 |
Data is provided by the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information.