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