Waterville, ME 04285 Frost Dates
Frost dates for Waterville, ME, ZIP 04285
Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 05/04, roughly 249 days out. The first fall frost typically arrives around 10/06, about 155 frost-free days later.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Waterville in Zone 5a (-20 to -15°F average annual minimum); frost dates are NOAA's 1991-2020 station normal, not this year's forecast.
What to do before the first frost
Zone 5a around Waterville has about 6 weeks left before the first fall frost — that's the usual window to get a cold frame up if you want to keep harvesting past it.
How much risk comes with planting early here
05/04 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Plant by 04/23 and you're betting against frost in roughly 9 years out of 10. 05/17 is the safer bet, historically only a 1-in-10 chance of frost that late.
How Waterville compares
At roughly 155 frost-free days, Waterville places 33,929 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within ME, it ranks 200 of 456.
Learn more
local microclimates explains what one yard in Waterville can differ from the 04285 normal, and zone vs. frost date explains why Zone 5a and Waterville's frost date answer different questions.