Sanford, ME 04095 Frost Dates
Sanford, ME: when does the frost end?
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.
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 Sanford, not a forecast for this year.
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
About 136 days separate Sanford's last and first frost, putting it 37,642 of 40,283 ZIP codes nationally. Within ME, it ranks 404 of 456.
Learn more
Before leaning on 04095's figures: local microclimates explains what one yard in Sanford can differ from the 04095 normal, while zone vs. frost date explains why Zone 5b and Sanford's frost date answer different questions.