Auburn, ME 04291 Frost Dates
04291, near Auburn, ME: the frost window
Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 05/03, roughly 248 days out. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/07, roughly 157 days after the last spring frost.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Auburn in Zone 5b (-15 to -10°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
Auburn'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
05/03 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/23 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/16 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Auburn against the rest of the dataset
Auburn's growing season runs about 157 days, ranking 33,229 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within ME, it ranks 189 of 456.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 04291: the frost range, on how to read the range around Auburn's dates instead of trusting one, and local microclimates, on what one yard in Auburn can differ from the 04291 normal.