Frost Dates: First and last frost dates for preston, id

How to read these charts for the spring
As the growing season approaches, the days get longer, the weather begins to warm up, and the nights start being less cold. You're still getting frost, but the chance of nightly frosts gets less and less with each passing day. Eventually, the frost stops, and this is when your tender plants are fully safe. So, how do you plan for this? The probabilities on this page help you assess your risk of frost on any given day.

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 June 30. 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 May 31, so we don't dare plant that early. We wait a few days and by June 12 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.

In the Spring
Temperature 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90%
Last 16° Apr 5 Mar 29 Mar 23 Mar 18 Mar 14 Mar 9 Mar 5 Feb 27 Feb 19
Last 20° Apr 17 Apr 9 Apr 4 Mar 31 Mar 27 Mar 23 Mar 18 Mar 13 Mar 6
Last 24° May 5 Apr 29 Apr 25 Apr 21 Apr 18 Apr 15 Apr 11 Apr 7 Apr 1
Last 28° May 16 May 12 May 9 May 6 May 3 May 1 Apr 28 Apr 25 Apr 21
Last 32° Jun 8 Jun 2 May 28 May 24 May 21 May 17 May 13 May 9 May 2
Last 36° Jun 30 Jun 24 Jun 19 Jun 16 Jun 12 Jun 8 Jun 4 May 31 May 24

How to read these charts for the fall
As your growing season comes to an end, the nightly temperatures for preston, id start to go down, and therefore every day that goes by increases the chance that you'll get frost. Your risk of frost really begins around August 11, and by September 29 you're almost certain to have received at least one frost event.

The charts on this page show the probabilities of receiving a certain temperature on a certain day. Some examples that might help:

  1. You have a small 20% chance of getting 32° by August 21.
  2. There is a 50% chance of being hit by a 32° frost starting around September 9
  3. You have a 80% chance of seeing 32° by September 29
  4. Said another way, you have a 1 in 5 chance at making it to that day without a 32° night.
In the Fall
Temperature 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90%
First 16° Oct 30 Nov 4 Nov 7 Nov 10 Nov 13 Nov 15 Nov 18 Nov 21 Nov 26
First 20° Sep 23 Oct 4 Oct 12 Oct 18 Oct 24 Oct 30 Nov 6 Nov 14 Nov 24
First 24° Aug 23 Sep 6 Sep 16 Sep 25 Oct 4 Oct 12 Oct 21 Oct 31 Nov 14
First 28° Aug 14 Aug 26 Sep 4 Sep 12 Sep 19 Sep 27 Oct 4 Oct 14 Oct 26
First 32° Aug 11 Aug 21 Aug 28 Sep 3 Sep 9 Sep 15 Sep 21 Sep 29 Oct 9
First 36° Aug 8 Aug 17 Aug 24 Aug 30 Sep 4 Sep 9 Sep 15 Sep 21 Sep 30

Data is provided by the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information.