Biddeford, ME 04046 Frost Dates
04046, near Biddeford, ME: the frost window
Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 05/09, roughly 254 days out. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/03, roughly 146 days after the last spring frost.
Biddeford sits in USDA Zone 6a (-10 to -5°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
Biddeford's growing season runs out in roughly 5 weeks — a cold frame or greenhouse kit is the usual way to keep cool-weather crops going past the first frost.
Why 05/09 isn't a guarantee
05/09 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/28 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/22 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Biddeford against the rest of the dataset
About 146 days separate Biddeford's last and first frost, putting it 36,024 of 40,283 ZIP codes nationally. Within ME, it ranks 339 of 456.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 04046: the frost range, on how to read the range around Biddeford's dates instead of trusting one, and local microclimates, on what one yard in Biddeford can differ from the 04046 normal.