Rockland, ME 04861 Frost Dates
04861, near Rockland, ME: the frost window
The last spring frost here typically falls around 04/27, about 242 days from today. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/25, roughly 178 days after the last spring frost.
Rockland sits in USDA Zone 6a (-10 to -5°F average annual minimum). The dates above are NOAA's 1991-2020 normal at the nearest reporting station, a 30-year average, not a forecast.
Stretching the season past the first frost
Rockland'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 04/27 isn't a guarantee
04/27 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/17 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/08 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Rockland against the rest of the dataset
At roughly 178 frost-free days, Rockland places 25,672 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within ME, it ranks 13 of 456.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 04861: local microclimates, on what one yard in Rockland can differ from the 04861 normal, and zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 6a and Rockland's frost date answer different questions.