Old Town, ME 04414 Frost Dates
04414, near Old Town, ME: the frost window
Around 05/12 is the usual last spring frost, about 257 days away. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/01, roughly 141 days after the last spring frost.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Old Town in Zone 5a (-20 to -15°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
Old Town's growing season runs out in roughly 5 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
05/12 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/30 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/26 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Old Town against the rest of the dataset
About 141 days separate Old Town's last and first frost, putting it 36,895 of 40,283 ZIP codes nationally. Within ME, it ranks 358 of 456.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 04414: the frost range, on how to read the range around Old Town's dates instead of trusting one, and local microclimates, on what one yard in Old Town can differ from the 04414 normal.