Bridgeport

Climate

Bridgeport lies in USDA garden hardiness zone 7a, averaging about 92 days annually with freeze. The coastal location of Bridgeport allows it to be milder than locations well south but inland. For example, the record coldest low temperature at Atlanta is −8 °F, while the record coldest at Bridgeport is −7 °F. Coastal Connecticut is the broad transition zone where so-called "subtropical indicator" plants such as cold hardy palms and other broadleaf evergreens can successfully be cultivated. As such, southern magnolias, needle palms, windmill palm, loblolly pines, and crape myrtles are grown in private and public gardens. Like much of coastal Connecticut, Long Island, New York, and coastal New Jersey, the growing season is rather long in Bridgeport—averaging 210 days from April 8 to November 5 according to the National Weather Service in Bridgeport.