HELENA - Spring may be in the air, but are your flowers and vegetables in the ground?
It's only the middle of May in Montana, a state where snow can fall and freezing temperatures can occur at any time of year.
It's not even Memorial Day yet and it always seems like a late-season storm drops a foot or two of snow around the "unofficial start of summer".
The average last frost for places like Helena, Great Falls, Havre and Glasgow is right around now.
Other cities like Lewistown, Cut Bank, Augusta and Big Sandy average late May for their last frost, and a few like Boulder, Lincoln and Browning average their last frost in the first half of June.
But that's the average, meaning some years are later, some are earlier.
Typically, Memorial Day Weekend is a safe time to plant. This year is different.
Temperatures over the next several weeks will remain above average. And as the calendar turns to June, the odds of a killing frost or freeze really decrease.
This year is shaping up to likely have an early growing season, but here in Montana there always is that chance of a late June or July 4 snowstorm.
It's a gamble every year but it's looking like a safe bet to start just a bit earlier in 2023.
