Frost Dates: First and last frost dates for Millington, MD
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 19. 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 17 | Mar 10 | Mar 5 | Mar 1 | Feb 25 | Feb 22 | Feb 17 | Feb 12 | Feb 4 |
Last 20° | Mar 25 | Mar 20 | Mar 15 | Mar 12 | Mar 9 | Mar 5 | Mar 2 | Feb 26 | Feb 20 |
Last 24° | Apr 8 | Apr 3 | Mar 30 | Mar 27 | Mar 24 | Mar 21 | Mar 18 | Mar 15 | Mar 10 |
Last 28° | Apr 21 | Apr 15 | Apr 11 | Apr 7 | Apr 4 | Apr 1 | Mar 28 | Mar 24 | Mar 18 |
Last 32° | May 1 | Apr 26 | Apr 22 | Apr 19 | Apr 16 | Apr 13 | Apr 10 | Apr 7 | Apr 2 |
Last 36° | May 19 | May 13 | May 9 | May 6 | May 3 | Apr 30 | Apr 27 | Apr 23 | Apr 17 |
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 12.
- There is a 50% chance of being hit by a 32° frost starting around October 21
- You have a 80% chance of seeing 32° by October 31
- 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 26 | Dec 3 | Dec 7 | Dec 11 | Dec 15 | Dec 19 | Dec 23 | Dec 28 | Jan 5 |
First 20° | Nov 5 | Nov 15 | Nov 23 | Nov 30 | Dec 6 | Dec 12 | Dec 19 | Dec 27 | Jan 6 |
First 24° | Oct 26 | Nov 2 | Nov 6 | Nov 10 | Nov 14 | Nov 18 | Nov 22 | Nov 26 | Dec 3 |
First 28° | Oct 14 | Oct 20 | Oct 24 | Oct 28 | Oct 31 | Nov 3 | Nov 7 | Nov 11 | Nov 17 |
First 32° | Oct 7 | Oct 12 | Oct 16 | Oct 19 | Oct 21 | Oct 24 | Oct 27 | Oct 31 | Nov 5 |
First 36° | Sep 27 | Oct 2 | Oct 5 | Oct 8 | Oct 11 | Oct 14 | Oct 17 | Oct 20 | Oct 25 |
Data is provided by the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information.