Ecorse, MI 48136 Frost Dates
48136, near Ecorse, MI: the frost window
Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 05/01, roughly 246 days out. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/15, roughly 166 days after the last spring frost.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Ecorse in Zone 6b (-5 to 0°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
Ecorse's growing season runs out in roughly 7 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 04/17 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/18 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Ecorse against the rest of the dataset
About 166 days separate Ecorse's last and first frost, putting it 30,326 of 40,283 ZIP codes nationally. Within MI, it ranks 394 of 1,153.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 48136: local microclimates, on what one yard in Ecorse can differ from the 48136 normal, and zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 6b and Ecorse's frost date answer different questions.