Milpa Gardens

Frost dates for Mckinney Municipal Airport, Texas

Half of years have their last spring frost by March 17 — but 1 year in 10 still frosts after April 5.

Every other site gives you one date. A frost date is not a date: it is a percentile from 30 years of records at a nearby weather station, and planting to the median means losing the crop in half of years. Both numbers are below, so you can choose the risk yourself.

The odds

Frost this late in 1 year in 10
April 5
1 year in 5
March 31
3 years in 10
March 26
2 years in 5
March 21
Half of years (the median)
March 17
First fall freeze, typical year
November 15
Growing season
about 241 days
Hardiness zones nearby
8a, 8b

Where these numbers come from

NOAA NCEI 1991–2020 Climate Normals, station Mckinney Municipal Airport (USC00415766), at 33.19, -96.59. These are that station's own records, unshifted. The further your garden is from it, the less exactly they describe your ground — the planner resolves the nearest station to your own ZIP and lowers its confidence with distance, rather than presenting one number as if it were measured in your yard.

Cold air also pools in low ground on the clear, still nights when frost happens, so a hollow can freeze while a slope a hundred metres away does not. No table can know that about your garden. Your own logged frosts eventually can.

ZIP codes nearest this station

75002, 75007, 75009, 75010, 75013, 75023, 75024, 75025, 75034, 75035, 75040, 75044, 75048, 75069, 75070, 75071, 75074, 75075, 75078, 75080, 75081, 75082, 75088, 75089, 75093, 75094, 75098, 75166, 75173, 75248, 75252, 75287, 75407, 75409, 75424, 75442, 75454, 75495.

What can I plant here, and when? →

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