Frost Dates: First and last frost dates for monroe, 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 24. 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 26, 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° | Feb 13 | Jan 28 | Jan 14 | Dec 31 | Dec 12 | -- | -- | -- | -- |
Last 20° | Feb 21 | Feb 12 | Feb 5 | Jan 29 | Jan 23 | Jan 16 | Jan 6 | -- | -- |
Last 24° | Mar 8 | Feb 26 | Feb 19 | Feb 13 | Feb 7 | Feb 2 | Jan 26 | Jan 19 | Jan 7 |
Last 28° | Apr 6 | Mar 29 | Mar 23 | Mar 18 | Mar 13 | Mar 9 | Mar 4 | Feb 26 | Feb 18 |
Last 32° | Apr 30 | Apr 25 | Apr 21 | Apr 17 | Apr 14 | Apr 11 | Apr 7 | Apr 3 | Mar 29 |
Last 36° | May 24 | May 18 | May 14 | May 11 | May 7 | May 4 | May 1 | Apr 26 | Apr 21 |
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 13.
- There is a 50% chance of being hit by a 32° frost starting around October 26
- You have a 80% chance of seeing 32° by November 8
- 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 6 | Dec 19 | Dec 31 | Jan 12 | Feb 2 | -- | -- | -- | -- |
First 20° | Nov 22 | Dec 5 | Dec 15 | Dec 23 | Jan 1 | Jan 11 | Jan 27 | -- | -- |
First 24° | Nov 5 | Nov 17 | Nov 26 | Dec 3 | Dec 10 | Dec 18 | Dec 26 | Jan 4 | Jan 19 |
First 28° | Oct 20 | Oct 30 | Nov 7 | Nov 13 | Nov 19 | Nov 24 | Dec 1 | Dec 8 | Dec 18 |
First 32° | Oct 7 | Oct 13 | Oct 18 | Oct 22 | Oct 26 | Oct 30 | Nov 3 | Nov 8 | Nov 15 |
First 36° | Sep 19 | Sep 25 | Sep 29 | Oct 3 | Oct 7 | Oct 10 | Oct 14 | Oct 18 | Oct 24 |
Data is provided by the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information.