Willards, MD 21874 Frost Dates
21874, near Willards, MD: the frost window
The last spring frost here typically falls around 04/10, about 225 days from today. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/30, roughly 201 days after the last spring frost.
Zone 7b (5 to 10°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 Willards, not a forecast for this year.
Stretching the season past the first frost
Willards's growing season runs out in roughly 9 weeks — a cold frame or greenhouse kit is the usual way to keep cool-weather crops going past the first frost.
Why 04/10 isn't a guarantee
04/10 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 03/28 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 04/30 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Willards against the rest of the dataset
At roughly 201 frost-free days, Willards places 17,596 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within MD, it ranks 460 of 583.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 21874: the frost range, on how to read the range around Willards's dates instead of trusting one, and local microclimates, on what one yard in Willards can differ from the 21874 normal.