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