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