Armada, MI 48005 Frost Dates
48005, near Armada, MI: the frost window
The last spring frost here typically falls around 05/01, about 246 days from today. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/20, roughly 170 days after the last spring frost.
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 Armada, not a forecast for this year.
Stretching the season past the first frost
Armada's growing season runs out in roughly 8 weeks — a cold frame or greenhouse kit is the usual way to keep cool-weather crops going past the first frost.
Why 05/01 isn't a guarantee
05/01 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/18 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/17 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Armada against the rest of the dataset
At roughly 170 frost-free days, Armada places 29,071 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within MI, it ranks 329 of 1,153.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 48005: local microclimates, on what one yard in Armada can differ from the 48005 normal, and zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 6a and Armada's frost date answer different questions.