Waterville, ME 04262 Frost Dates
04262, near Waterville, ME: the frost window
The last spring frost here typically falls around 05/24, about 269 days from today. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 09/21, roughly 118 days after the last spring frost.
Waterville 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
Waterville's growing season runs out in roughly 3 weeks — a cold frame or greenhouse kit is the usual way to keep cool-weather crops going past the first frost.
Why 05/24 isn't a guarantee
05/24 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 05/08 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 06/06 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Waterville against the rest of the dataset
At roughly 118 frost-free days, Waterville places 39,193 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within ME, it ranks 444 of 456.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 04262: local microclimates, on what one yard in Waterville can differ from the 04262 normal, and zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 5a and Waterville's frost date answer different questions.