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