Frost Dates: First and last frost dates for pullman, 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 July 4. 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 26, so we don't dare plant that early. We wait a few days and by June 10 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° | Mar 2 | Feb 22 | Feb 16 | Feb 11 | Feb 6 | Feb 1 | Jan 27 | Jan 20 | Jan 7 |
Last 20° | Mar 21 | Mar 12 | Mar 5 | Feb 27 | Feb 22 | Feb 16 | Feb 11 | Feb 4 | Jan 26 |
Last 24° | Apr 16 | Apr 6 | Mar 30 | Mar 24 | Mar 19 | Mar 13 | Mar 7 | Feb 28 | Feb 19 |
Last 28° | May 13 | May 5 | Apr 29 | Apr 24 | Apr 19 | Apr 14 | Apr 9 | Apr 3 | Mar 26 |
Last 32° | May 31 | May 24 | May 20 | May 16 | May 12 | May 8 | May 4 | Apr 29 | Apr 22 |
Last 36° | Jul 4 | Jun 26 | Jun 20 | Jun 15 | Jun 10 | Jun 6 | May 31 | May 26 | May 17 |
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 September 15.
- There is a 50% chance of being hit by a 32° frost starting around September 27
- You have a 80% chance of seeing 32° by October 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° | Nov 4 | Nov 13 | Nov 21 | Nov 27 | Dec 3 | Dec 9 | Dec 15 | Dec 24 | Jan 9 |
First 20° | Oct 17 | Oct 27 | Nov 3 | Nov 10 | Nov 15 | Nov 21 | Nov 27 | Dec 5 | Dec 15 |
First 24° | Oct 3 | Oct 11 | Oct 17 | Oct 22 | Oct 27 | Nov 1 | Nov 6 | Nov 12 | Nov 21 |
First 28° | Sep 20 | Sep 26 | Oct 1 | Oct 4 | Oct 8 | Oct 11 | Oct 15 | Oct 20 | Oct 26 |
First 32° | Sep 9 | Sep 15 | Sep 19 | Sep 23 | Sep 27 | Sep 30 | Oct 4 | Oct 8 | Oct 14 |
First 36° | Aug 24 | Aug 30 | Sep 3 | Sep 7 | Sep 10 | Sep 13 | Sep 16 | Sep 20 | Sep 26 |
Data is provided by the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information.