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