First Frost In Great Falls This Year Will Be…

First frost?!

It's the end of July, the dog days of summer. I'm well aware.

However, I wanted to know when the first frost is this year to establish a countdown in my head as well as torment my wife with the fact that cold weather and winter is indeed coming.

via GIPHY

When we live through the hottest weather a Montana summer can offer we often compare the coldest day we recently experienced and determine whether one enjoys the cold or warm weather often saying you would love this weather rather than cold any day, or vice versa.

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The Farmer's Almanac does a pretty good job predicting most everything a farmer needs whether that be crops, to when seasons are likely to change in any given year.

According to The Farmer's Almanac they use a term called a frost date which is the average date of the last light freeze in spring or the first light freeze in fall.

They have a classification of freezing temperatures that have an effect on plants:

Light freeze: 29° to 32°F (-1.7° to 0°C)—tender plants are killed.

Moderate freeze: 25° to 28°F (-3.9° to -2.2°C)—widely destructive to most vegetation.

Severe freeze: 24°F (-4.4°C) and colder—heavy damage to most garden plants.

On The Farmer's Almanac website almanac.com, they use a frost date calculator determining first and last frost dates based upon data from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Center for Environmental Information to predict those events throughout the year.

According to the Frost Date Calculator the first frost in Great Falls, MT this year is predicted to be September 25th.

2 months until first frost.

They stipulate that this an estimate based on historical data. According to their website, they give it 30% odds that it will land on that date. However, I've always noticed that Farmer's Almanac hits it pretty close.

Act accordingly.