Bath, ME 04554 Frost Dates
04554, near Bath, ME: the frost window
The last spring frost here typically falls around 04/28, about 243 days from today. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/21, roughly 175 days after the last spring frost.
Zone 6a (-10 to -5°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 Bath, not a forecast for this year.
Stretching the season past the first frost
Bath's growing season runs out in roughly 8 weeks — a cold frame or greenhouse kit is the usual way to keep cool-weather crops going past the first frost.
Why 04/28 isn't a guarantee
04/28 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/16 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/09 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Bath against the rest of the dataset
At roughly 175 frost-free days, Bath places 26,832 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within ME, it ranks 56 of 456.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 04554: local microclimates, on what one yard in Bath can differ from the 04554 normal, and zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 6a and Bath's frost date answer different questions.