Frost Dates: First and last frost dates for quillayute, 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 June 16. 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 13, so we don't dare plant that early. We wait a few days and by May 26 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 3 | Jan 20 | Jan 8 | Dec 19 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
Last 20° | Feb 17 | Feb 5 | Jan 26 | Jan 18 | Jan 10 | Dec 31 | Dec 19 | -- | -- |
Last 24° | Mar 25 | Mar 14 | Mar 6 | Feb 27 | Feb 21 | Feb 14 | Feb 8 | Jan 31 | Jan 20 |
Last 28° | Apr 27 | Apr 16 | Apr 8 | Apr 1 | Mar 26 | Mar 20 | Mar 13 | Mar 5 | Feb 22 |
Last 32° | May 19 | May 11 | May 5 | Apr 30 | Apr 26 | Apr 21 | Apr 16 | Apr 11 | Apr 3 |
Last 36° | Jun 16 | Jun 9 | Jun 4 | May 30 | May 26 | May 22 | May 18 | May 13 | May 6 |
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 4.
- There is a 50% chance of being hit by a 32° frost starting around October 16
- You have a 80% chance of seeing 32° by October 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 17 | Dec 31 | Jan 15 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
First 20° | Nov 28 | Dec 11 | Dec 21 | Dec 29 | Jan 7 | Jan 18 | Feb 2 | -- | -- |
First 24° | Nov 5 | Nov 17 | Nov 25 | Dec 2 | Dec 9 | Dec 16 | Dec 23 | Dec 31 | Jan 12 |
First 28° | Oct 15 | Oct 25 | Nov 2 | Nov 8 | Nov 14 | Nov 19 | Nov 25 | Dec 3 | Dec 13 |
First 32° | Sep 28 | Oct 4 | Oct 9 | Oct 13 | Oct 16 | Oct 20 | Oct 24 | Oct 28 | Nov 3 |
First 36° | Sep 5 | Sep 12 | Sep 17 | Sep 21 | Sep 25 | Sep 29 | Oct 3 | Oct 8 | Oct 14 |
Data is provided by the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information.