Scottish growing tool

Frost Date Calculator

Scottish frost tracks altitude and distance from the sea far more than postcode. Pick your region and whether your garden is lowland or upland, and this gives you the frost window from the nearest Met Office station record.

Compare all regions manually

Every Scottish region at a glance

Derived from Met Office station records, 1991-2020 averages. Dates are half-month bands because the underlying data is monthly counts of air-frost days, not observed frost dates.

Region	Garden	Last spring frost	First autumn frost	Safe to plant out	Season	Station	Confidence
Edinburgh, Glasgow & Fife	lowland	mid-to-late April	late October	mid May	~185 days	Edinburgh, Royal Botanic Garden No 2	high
Edinburgh, Glasgow & Fife	upland	mid-to-late May	late September	early June	~130 days	Eskdalemuir	low
Aberdeen & Aberdeenshire	lowland	early May	late October	late May	~175 days	Dyce (Aberdeen)	high
Aberdeen & Aberdeenshire	upland	late May to early June	mid-to-late September	mid June	~115 days	Braemar	high
Inverness, the Highlands & Orkney	lowland	late April	late October	mid May	~180 days	Inverness	high
Inverness, the Highlands & Orkney	upland	late May to early June	mid-to-late September	mid June	~115 days	Braemar	medium
Dumfries & Galloway	lowland	late April	late October	mid May	~180 days	Dumfries, Crichton Royal No 2	high
Dumfries & Galloway	upland	mid-to-late May	late September	early June	~130 days	Eskdalemuir	high
the Scottish Borders	lowland	early May	late October	mid-to-late May	~175 days	Charterhall	high
the Scottish Borders	upland	mid-to-late May	late September	early June	~130 days	Eskdalemuir	medium
Shetland, the Western Isles & Argyll	lowland	late April	early November	mid May	~190 days	Stornoway	high

Source: Met Office location-specific long-term averages and historic station data · 1991-2020 averages · last verified 2026-07-15

Frost Date Calculator

Every Scottish region at a glance

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