Frost dates
Frost in Scotland
What the stations recorded, 1996 to 2025
- Leuchars (10 m): 3.7 air frost days on average in April and 0.8 in May; 1.1 in October and 6.2 in November. May is the last spring month averaging half a frosty day or more, and October the first autumn one. About 52 frosty days a year.
- Eskdalemuir (242 m): 8.1 air frost days on average in April and 3.6 in May; 3.7 in October and 8.8 in November. May is the last spring month averaging half a frosty day or more, and September the first autumn one. About 77 frosty days a year.
- Braemar (339 m): 11.1 air frost days on average in April and 4.9 in May; 4.8 in October and 11.0 in November. June is the last spring month averaging half a frosty day or more, and September the first autumn one. About 99 frosty days a year.
Three stations from low to high: Leuchars on the Fife coast, Eskdalemuir in the Southern Uplands at 242 m, and Braemar in the Cairngorms at 339 m.
Your own garden
A station is one spot. Add your postcode for your area's average last and first frost.
Month by month
| Station | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Leuchars | 11.7 | 9.7 | 7.8 | 3.7 | 0.8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.1 | 6.2 | 11.2 |
| Eskdalemuir | 14.0 | 13.0 | 11.9 | 8.1 | 3.6 | 0.1 | 0 | 0.1 | 0.7 | 3.7 | 8.8 | 13.2 |
| Braemar | 16.8 | 16.3 | 15.1 | 11.1 | 4.9 | 0.7 | 0.1 | 0.3 | 1.3 | 4.8 | 11.0 | 16.3 |
What this means for sowing and planting
Even Leuchars, at sea level, averages frosts into May and from October, with more frosty days a year than any English station in this set. Eskdalemuir averages several May frosts. Braemar averages some air frost in every month of the year, even July and August.
Tender crops outdoors are a June job almost everywhere, and in the uplands a greenhouse or polytunnel makes the difference. Autumn closes early, so late sowings need checking against your own frost date.
Local things that change it
The west coast
We have no west-coast station in this dataset, so it isn’t described here. Use the postcode look-up.Braemar moved
Braemar’s station changed site in April 2005, so its average mixes two nearby sites.Cover pays
Where the frost-free season is short, a cold frame or polytunnel adds weeks at each end.Your garden
Use the postcode look-up above for your own area.
What we can and can't tell you
Stations, not your garden
These are thermometer readings at a handful of Met Office sites, averaged over thirty years. They show how the region behaves, not what your garden will do this spring. A frosty day count isn't a last-frost date, and a ground frost can come on a night the station records none. For your area's typical last frost and how late one can come, use the postcode look-up above.
Keep going
Where this comes from
Crop windows, growing times and plant families come from Vercro's own curated crop catalogue, the same data the Vercro app uses. Where a published source says something different, we show both rather than choosing the convenient one. Reviewed 19 September 2026.
- Historic station data (monthly air frost days, 1996 to 2025), Met Office, Open Government Licence v3.0. Read 19 September 2026.
- A touch of frost: types of frost, Royal Meteorological Society. Read 19 September 2026.
Vercro reads your garden's own frost dates
Add your garden's postcode and Vercro uses its frost dates to say whether a sowing will finish in time, and its forecast to shape the jobs it shows on Today.