Frost Dates: First and last frost dates for Washington Reagan, VA

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

How to read these charts for the fall
As your growing season comes to an end, the nightly temperatures for Washington Reagan, VA 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 27, and by November 27 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 November 3.
  2. There is a 50% chance of being hit by a 32° frost starting around November 15
  3. You have a 80% chance of seeing 32° by November 27
  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° Dec 15 Dec 24 Dec 31 Jan 5 Jan 11 Jan 17 Jan 25 Feb 5 --
First 20° Dec 8 Dec 14 Dec 18 Dec 22 Dec 26 Dec 30 Jan 3 Jan 7 Jan 13
First 24° Nov 27 Dec 2 Dec 6 Dec 9 Dec 12 Dec 15 Dec 18 Dec 22 Dec 27
First 28° Nov 10 Nov 16 Nov 21 Nov 25 Nov 29 Dec 3 Dec 7 Dec 12 Dec 19
First 32° Oct 27 Nov 3 Nov 7 Nov 11 Nov 15 Nov 18 Nov 22 Nov 27 Dec 3
First 36° Oct 17 Oct 22 Oct 27 Oct 30 Nov 2 Nov 6 Nov 9 Nov 13 Nov 19

Frost Dates for other nearby locations
  • Natl Arboretum Dc, MD
  • Dalecarlia Rsvr, MD
  • Beltsville, MD
  • Vienna, VA
  • Glenn Dale Bell Stn, MD
  • Upper Marlboro, MD
  • Rockville, MD
  • Laurel, MD
  • Clarksville, MD
  • Washgtn Dulles, VA

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