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