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