Oakland, MD 21550 Frost Dates
When can you plant in Oakland, MD?
Around 05/06 is the usual last spring frost, about 251 days away. The first fall frost typically arrives around 10/09, about 156 frost-free days later.
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 Oakland, not a forecast for this year.
What to do before the first frost
About 6 weeks of growing season left in Oakland before the first fall frost — a cold frame or row cover can stretch harvest weeks past that date.
The actual range around Oakland's last frost
05/06 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Plant by 04/21 and you're betting against frost in roughly 9 years out of 10. 05/23 is the safer bet, historically only a 1-in-10 chance of frost that late.
How Oakland compares
About 156 days separate Oakland's last and first frost, putting it 33,673 of 40,283 ZIP codes nationally. Within MD, it ranks 580 of 583.
Learn more
local microclimates covers what one yard in Oakland can differ from the 21550 normal. zone vs. frost date covers why Zone 6a and Oakland's frost date answer different questions.