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