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