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