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