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