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