At this time of year, the curious want to know if we’ll have a late freeze. The average date of last freeze, naturally varies across the state. Southeast KS has the earliest, with Yates Center’s average date being April 8th. Northwest KS has the latest – the average date for last freeze in Atwood is MAY 8th. But these are just the average dates. Frosts have occurred as late as May 29th across the state and even later in the west. Late freezes are especially possible during drought conditions. With dry air in place, cold waves don’t moderate as quickly, allowing that Arctic air to plunge across the state. With wet weather, the lows are buffered and less likely to reach the freezing mark. In 2016, Tribune’s temperature dropped to 31 °F on the 5th of May. The latest date for a freeze at Tribune was June 6, 1998 when they recorded a low of 31 °F. In Manhattan, our last freeze in 2016 was on April 30th. Our latest spring freeze was in 1907 when we dipped to 30 °F on May 27th.
Mary Knapp, Weather Data Library
mknapp@ksu.edu