Waterville, ME 04992 Frost Dates
Waterville, ME: when does the frost end?
Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 05/16, roughly 261 days out. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 09/26, roughly 130 days after the last spring frost.
Waterville sits in USDA Zone 5a (-20 to -15°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
With roughly 4 weeks until Waterville's first fall frost, a row cover or cold frame is what stretches the last few weeks of harvest here.
How much risk comes with planting early here
05/16 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 05/03 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 06/01 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Waterville against the rest of the dataset
Waterville's growing season runs about 130 days, ranking 38,360 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within ME, it ranks 426 of 456.
Learn more
Before leaning on 04992's figures: zone vs. frost date explains why Zone 5a and Waterville's frost date answer different questions, while the frost range explains how to read the range around Waterville's dates instead of trusting one.