Updated: 2026-09-29
The last air frost of the season has reached well into June here. Twice in the record, at the measuring station closest to Birmingham, the final frost of the year landed on 2 June — first in 1989 and again in 1991 — with the mercury dropping to just below freezing.
2 June 1989
Latest last-frost date in the record, at -0.1 °C
2 June 1991
Matching latest last-frost date, at -0.1 °C
For anyone in Birmingham growing fruit trees, soft fruit or tender bedding plants, that is the number that matters: blossom already open in late May is not automatically safe.
The closest official measuring point to Birmingham is the halesowen station in West Midlands, at 153 m above sea level and about 13.3 km from the city. It is not a Birmingham station, and the ground there may sit at a slightly different elevation or exposure than your garden, so treat its figures as the best local reference rather than a reading taken on your street. Everything below comes from the Met Office records for that station.
Based on complete years from 1956 to 2003, the last frost of the season has arrived in May or early June in the most stubborn years, and as early as late March in the mildest. The five latest final-frost dates on record are the ones below — and note that two of them fall on exactly the same calendar day.
| Year | Last frost date | Minimum temperature |
|---|---|---|
| 1989 | 2 June | -0.1 °C |
| 1991 | 2 June | -0.1 °C |
| 1962 | 1 June | -1.1 °C |
| 1975 | 31 May | -1.5 °C |
| 1961 | 28 May | -0.6 °C |
There is a tie at the top of that list: 1989 and 1991 share the latest date, and both were marginal frosts at -0.1 °C. The 1975 event, by contrast, was the coldest of this late group at -1.5 °C, and 1962 reached -1.1 °C on 1 June. A -1.5 °C night in the last hours of May is a genuine hard frost by blossom standards — that is the kind of morning that blackens open pear and apple flowers.
For scale, the absolute minimum ever logged here was far below anything the spring months deliver. On 13 December 1981 the station recorded a minimum of -14.5 °C. That is a deep-winter figure, and it shows just how much colder the site can get when a true cold spell settles in — the spring frosts that threaten blossom are mild by comparison, but they arrive at exactly the wrong moment for plants.
-14.5 °C
Absolute minimum recorded, 13 December 1981
Averaged across the years with usable data, frost days are spread across the colder half of the year. January and February lead, then the risk falls away sharply through spring before returning in autumn. These are mean frost days per year for each month.
| Month | Mean frost days per year |
|---|---|
| January | 11.5 |
| February | 11.7 |
| March | 7.2 |
| April | 4.2 |
| May | 0.8 |
| June | 0.1 |
| September | 0.0 |
| October | 1.5 |
| November | 5.8 |
| December | 9.9 |
May is the interesting month for growers: at 0.8 frost days on average, a frost is uncommon but far from impossible. June sits at 0.1, and it is precisely that thin tail of June events — 1962, 1989 and 1991 — that turns a statistical footnote into a real risk for late blossom. April still averages 4.2 frost days, which is why early-flowering fruit in Birmingham is exposed more often than most gardeners assume.
The full record of final frost dates through the series is below. Read it as a spread rather than a single answer: most years end their frosts in April, a good number push into early May, and only a few stretch beyond that.
The chart shows the complete annual series. The table lists the most notable years; the full series comes from Met Office.
| Year | Last frost date | Minimum temperature |
|---|---|---|
| 1958 | 1958-04-13 | -5.0 °C |
| 1966 | 1966-04-16 | -0.1 °C |
| 1972 | 1972-03-25 | -0.1 °C |
| 1974 | 1974-04-22 | -0.1 °C |
| 1981 | 1981-05-03 | -0.1 °C |
| 1989 | 1989-06-02 | -0.1 °C |
| 1991 | 1991-06-02 | -0.1 °C |
Fruit blossom in the Birmingham area typically opens between late March and mid-May depending on variety and site. The record shows April frosts averaging 4.2 days a year and May still carrying 0.8, so the window where flowers and frost overlap is real, not theoretical. The nastiest combination is a mild spell that coaxes blossom open early, followed by a clear, still night that lets the temperature fall fast — exactly the pattern behind the -5.0 °C on 13 April 1958 or the -3.7 °C on 20 April 1969.
If you are planning around the risk, the dates to keep in mind are the extremes rather than the averages. Frost has reached 2 June at this station, so a protected or later-flowering variety is a safer bet than something that blooms in early April. And because the measuring point sits 13.3 km away at 153 m, a frost hollow or a colder valley bottom near Birmingham can run colder on the same night — the station figure is a guide, not a guarantee for your own plot.
Source: Met Office MIDAS archive, halesowen station, West Midlands. Complete-year records 1956-2003.
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