Frost Dates: First and last frost dates for diablo dam, 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 May 26. 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 8 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 24 | Feb 14 | Feb 6 | Jan 30 | Jan 23 | Jan 16 | Jan 7 | Dec 21 | -- |
Last 20° | Mar 3 | Feb 22 | Feb 15 | Feb 9 | Feb 3 | Jan 28 | Jan 22 | Jan 12 | -- |
Last 24° | Mar 9 | Feb 28 | Feb 22 | Feb 17 | Feb 12 | Feb 7 | Feb 1 | Jan 26 | Jan 17 |
Last 28° | Apr 4 | Mar 25 | Mar 18 | Mar 12 | Mar 7 | Mar 1 | Feb 23 | Feb 16 | Feb 7 |
Last 32° | May 6 | Apr 30 | Apr 26 | Apr 22 | Apr 19 | Apr 15 | Apr 12 | Apr 8 | Apr 2 |
Last 36° | May 26 | May 20 | May 15 | May 11 | May 8 | May 4 | Apr 30 | 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 19.
- There is a 50% chance of being hit by a 32° frost starting around October 30
- You have a 80% chance of seeing 32° by November 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 28 | Dec 10 | Dec 20 | Dec 28 | Jan 5 | Jan 15 | Jan 27 | -- | -- |
First 20° | Nov 18 | Nov 28 | Dec 6 | Dec 13 | Dec 19 | Dec 26 | Jan 3 | Jan 13 | -- |
First 24° | Nov 12 | Nov 22 | Nov 29 | Dec 5 | Dec 11 | Dec 17 | Dec 23 | Dec 30 | Jan 9 |
First 28° | Oct 28 | Nov 5 | Nov 11 | Nov 16 | Nov 21 | Nov 26 | Dec 1 | Dec 7 | Dec 16 |
First 32° | Oct 14 | Oct 19 | Oct 23 | Oct 27 | Oct 30 | Nov 2 | Nov 5 | Nov 9 | Nov 15 |
First 36° | Sep 29 | Oct 4 | Oct 8 | Oct 11 | Oct 14 | Oct 17 | Oct 20 | Oct 24 | Oct 29 |
Data is provided by the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information.