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