Sanford, ME 04028 Frost Dates
Sanford, ME: when does the frost end?
Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 05/14, roughly 259 days out. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 09/30, roughly 136 days after the last spring frost.
Sanford sits in USDA Zone 5a (-20 to -15°F average annual minimum). The dates above are NOAA's 1991-2020 normal at the nearest reporting station, a 30-year average, not a forecast.
Stretching the season past the first frost
With roughly 5 weeks until Sanford's first fall frost, a row cover or cold frame is what stretches the last few weeks of harvest here.
How much risk comes with planting early here
05/14 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 05/03 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/28 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Sanford against the rest of the dataset
At roughly 136 frost-free days, Sanford places 37,632 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within ME, it ranks 394 of 456.
Learn more
Before leaning on 04028's figures: local microclimates explains what one yard in Sanford can differ from the 04028 normal, while zone vs. frost date explains why Zone 5a and Sanford's frost date answer different questions.