Bangor, ME 04444 Frost Dates
04444, near Bangor, ME: the frost window
Around 05/04 is the usual last spring frost, about 249 days away. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/04, roughly 152 days after the last spring frost.
Zone 5a (-20 to -15°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 Bangor, not a forecast for this year.
Stretching the season past the first frost
Bangor'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.
Why 05/04 isn't a guarantee
05/04 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/24 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/17 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Bangor against the rest of the dataset
At roughly 152 frost-free days, Bangor places 34,694 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within ME, it ranks 223 of 456.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 04444: the frost range, on how to read the range around Bangor's dates instead of trusting one, and local microclimates, on what one yard in Bangor can differ from the 04444 normal.