Sanford, ME 04048 Frost Dates
04048, near Sanford, ME: the frost window
Around 05/14 is the usual last spring frost, about 259 days away. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 09/30, roughly 136 days after the last spring frost.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Sanford in Zone 5a (-20 to -15°F average annual minimum); frost dates are NOAA's 1991-2020 station normal, not this year's forecast.
Stretching the season past the first frost
Sanford'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.
The actual range around Sanford's last frost
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 37,635 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within ME, it ranks 397 of 456.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 04048: local microclimates, on what one yard in Sanford can differ from the 04048 normal, and zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 5a and Sanford's frost date answer different questions.