Frost Dates: First and last frost dates for kinston ag rsch, nc

How to read these charts for the fall
As your growing season comes to an end, the nightly temperatures for kinston ag rsch, nc start to go down, and therefore every day that goes by increases the chance that you'll get frost. Your risk of frost really begins around October 16, and by November 13 you're almost certain to have received at least one frost event.

The charts on this page show the probabilities of receiving a certain temperature on a certain day. Some examples that might help:

  1. You have a small 20% chance of getting 32° by October 21.
  2. There is a 50% chance of being hit by a 32° frost starting around November 2
  3. You have a 80% chance of seeing 32° by November 13
  4. Said another way, you have a 1 in 5 chance at making it to that day without a 32° night.
In the Fall
Temperature 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90%
First 16° Dec 19 Dec 27 Jan 3 Jan 9 Jan 16 Jan 25 -- -- --
First 20° Dec 4 Dec 13 Dec 20 Dec 25 Dec 31 Jan 5 Jan 12 Jan 19 Feb 3
First 24° Nov 11 Nov 20 Nov 27 Dec 3 Dec 8 Dec 14 Dec 20 Dec 27 Jan 5
First 28° Oct 28 Nov 4 Nov 9 Nov 13 Nov 16 Nov 20 Nov 24 Nov 29 Dec 6
First 32° Oct 16 Oct 21 Oct 26 Oct 29 Nov 2 Nov 5 Nov 9 Nov 13 Nov 19
First 36° Oct 9 Oct 14 Oct 18 Oct 21 Oct 24 Oct 26 Oct 29 Nov 2 Nov 7

How to read these charts for the spring
As the growing season approaches, the days get longer, the weather begins to warm up, and the nights start being less cold. You're still getting frost, but the chance of nightly frosts gets less and less with each passing day. Eventually, the frost stops, and this is when your tender plants are fully safe. So, how do you plan for this? The probabilities on this page help you assess your risk of frost on any given day.

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 2. 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 2, so we don't dare plant that early. We wait a few days and by April 14 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.

In the Spring
Temperature 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90%
Last 16° Feb 16 Feb 8 Feb 2 Jan 28 Jan 22 Jan 16 Jan 4 -- --
Last 20° Mar 3 Feb 23 Feb 17 Feb 12 Feb 7 Feb 2 Jan 27 Jan 20 Jan 7
Last 24° Mar 25 Mar 17 Mar 11 Mar 6 Mar 1 Feb 24 Feb 19 Feb 13 Feb 4
Last 28° Apr 8 Apr 1 Mar 27 Mar 22 Mar 18 Mar 14 Mar 9 Mar 4 Feb 24
Last 32° Apr 15 Apr 10 Apr 5 Apr 2 Mar 30 Mar 26 Mar 23 Mar 19 Mar 13
Last 36° May 2 Apr 25 Apr 21 Apr 17 Apr 14 Apr 10 Apr 6 Apr 2 Mar 27

Data is provided by the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information.