Frost Dates: First and last frost dates for callahan, ca
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 July 9. 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 June 13, so we don't dare plant that early. We wait a few days and by June 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° | Mar 4 | Feb 19 | Feb 9 | Feb 1 | Jan 24 | Jan 15 | Jan 5 | Dec 23 | -- |
Last 20° | Apr 4 | Mar 23 | Mar 15 | Mar 7 | Feb 28 | Feb 21 | Feb 14 | Feb 5 | Jan 24 |
Last 24° | Apr 30 | Apr 22 | Apr 16 | Apr 12 | Apr 7 | Apr 3 | Mar 29 | Mar 24 | Mar 16 |
Last 28° | May 28 | May 22 | May 17 | May 13 | May 10 | May 6 | May 3 | Apr 28 | Apr 22 |
Last 32° | Jun 23 | Jun 16 | Jun 10 | Jun 5 | Jun 1 | May 28 | May 23 | May 18 | May 10 |
Last 36° | Jul 9 | Jul 3 | Jun 29 | Jun 26 | Jun 23 | Jun 20 | Jun 17 | Jun 13 | Jun 7 |
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 18.
- 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 9
- 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 15 | Nov 24 | Dec 1 | Dec 7 | Dec 12 | Dec 18 | Dec 25 | Jan 3 | -- |
First 20° | Nov 5 | Nov 11 | Nov 16 | Nov 20 | Nov 24 | Nov 28 | Dec 2 | Dec 6 | Dec 13 |
First 24° | Oct 19 | Oct 25 | Oct 29 | Nov 2 | Nov 5 | Nov 8 | Nov 12 | Nov 16 | Nov 22 |
First 28° | Oct 3 | Oct 9 | Oct 13 | Oct 17 | Oct 20 | Oct 23 | Oct 27 | Oct 31 | Nov 5 |
First 32° | Sep 12 | Sep 18 | Sep 22 | Sep 25 | Sep 28 | Oct 1 | Oct 5 | Oct 9 | Oct 14 |
First 36° | Aug 22 | Aug 29 | Sep 4 | Sep 8 | Sep 12 | Sep 17 | Sep 21 | Sep 26 | Oct 4 |
Data is provided by the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information.