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