FrostDateCheck

Baltimore, MD 21237 Frost Dates

21237, near Baltimore, MD: the frost window

Zone 8a

Around 03/24 is the usual last spring frost, about 208 days away. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 11/21, roughly 244 days after the last spring frost.

The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Baltimore in Zone 8a (10 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

Baltimore's growing season runs out in roughly 12 weeks — a cold frame or greenhouse kit is the usual way to keep cool-weather crops going past the first frost.

The actual range around Baltimore's last frost

03/24 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 03/08 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 04/04 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.

Baltimore against the rest of the dataset

About 244 days separate Baltimore's last and first frost, putting it 8,170 of 40,283 ZIP codes nationally. Within MD, it ranks 39 of 583.

Learn more

Two guides worth reading on 21237: local microclimates, on what one yard in Baltimore can differ from the 21237 normal, and zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 8a and Baltimore's frost date answer different questions.