Frost Dates: First and last frost dates for Palisade, CO

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 2. 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 27, so we don't dare plant that early. We wait a few days and by May 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° Mar 13 Mar 2 Feb 21 Feb 14 Feb 7 Feb 1 Jan 25 Jan 16 Jan 5
Last 20° Mar 29 Mar 19 Mar 12 Mar 6 Feb 28 Feb 22 Feb 16 Feb 9 Jan 30
Last 24° Apr 12 Apr 3 Mar 27 Mar 21 Mar 16 Mar 10 Mar 5 Feb 26 Feb 16
Last 28° Apr 21 Apr 15 Apr 11 Apr 7 Apr 4 Mar 31 Mar 28 Mar 23 Mar 17
Last 32° May 14 May 7 May 1 Apr 27 Apr 22 Apr 18 Apr 13 Apr 8 Mar 31
Last 36° Jun 2 May 25 May 20 May 15 May 11 May 7 May 2 Apr 27 Apr 19

How to read these charts for the fall
As your growing season comes to an end, the nightly temperatures for Palisade, CO 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 October 12, and by November 2 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 October 16.
  2. There is a 50% chance of being hit by a 32° frost starting around October 25
  3. You have a 80% chance of seeing 32° by November 2
  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° Nov 15 Nov 23 Nov 29 Dec 4 Dec 8 Dec 13 Dec 17 Dec 23 Dec 31
First 20° Nov 6 Nov 13 Nov 18 Nov 23 Nov 27 Dec 1 Dec 5 Dec 11 Dec 18
First 24° Oct 27 Nov 2 Nov 6 Nov 9 Nov 13 Nov 16 Nov 20 Nov 24 Nov 29
First 28° Oct 23 Oct 27 Oct 30 Nov 2 Nov 5 Nov 7 Nov 10 Nov 13 Nov 18
First 32° Oct 12 Oct 16 Oct 20 Oct 22 Oct 25 Oct 27 Oct 30 Nov 2 Nov 6
First 36° Sep 26 Oct 1 Oct 6 Oct 9 Oct 13 Oct 16 Oct 20 Oct 24 Oct 30

Frost Dates for other nearby locations
  • Grand Junction, CO
  • Grand Junction Regional Ap, CO
  • Colorado Nm, CO
  • Fruita, CO
  • Altenbern, CO
  • Rifle, CO
  • Gateway, CO
  • Paonia, CO
  • Montrose #2, CO
  • Uravan, CO

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