Bath, ME 04086 Frost Dates
04086, near Bath, ME: the frost window
Around 05/02 is the usual last spring frost, about 247 days away. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/10, roughly 160 days after the last spring frost.
Zone 5b (-15 to -10°F average annual minimum) comes from the USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map; the frost dates above are the 1991-2020 normal at the nearest reporting NOAA station for Bath, not a forecast for this year.
Stretching the season past the first frost
Bath's growing season runs out in roughly 6 weeks — a cold frame or greenhouse kit is the usual way to keep cool-weather crops going past the first frost.
How much risk comes with planting early here
05/02 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/24 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/14 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Bath against the rest of the dataset
Bath's growing season runs about 160 days, ranking 32,278 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within ME, it ranks 152 of 456.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 04086: the frost range, on how to read the range around Bath's dates instead of trusting one, and local microclimates, on what one yard in Bath can differ from the 04086 normal.