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