Sharptown, MD 21861 Frost Dates
21861, near Sharptown, MD: the frost window
Around 04/08 is the usual last spring frost, about 223 days away. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 11/04, roughly 209 days after the last spring frost.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Sharptown in Zone 7b (5 to 10°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
Sharptown's growing season runs out in roughly 10 weeks — a cold frame or greenhouse kit is the usual way to keep cool-weather crops going past the first frost.
How much risk comes with planting early here
04/08 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 03/24 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 04/23 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Sharptown against the rest of the dataset
Sharptown's growing season runs about 209 days, ranking 15,353 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within MD, it ranks 348 of 583.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 21861: local microclimates, on what one yard in Sharptown can differ from the 21861 normal, and zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 7b and Sharptown's frost date answer different questions.