Detroit, MI 48210 Frost Dates
When can you plant in Detroit, MI?
Around 04/27 is the usual last spring frost, about 242 days away. The first fall frost typically arrives around 10/25, about 181 frost-free days later.
Detroit sits in USDA Zone 6b (-5 to 0°F average annual minimum). The dates above are NOAA's 1991-2020 normal at the nearest reporting station, a 30-year average, not a forecast.
What to do before the first frost
About 8 weeks of growing season left in Detroit before the first fall frost — a cold frame or row cover can stretch harvest weeks past that date.
The actual range around Detroit's last frost
04/27 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Plant by 04/12 and you're betting against frost in roughly 9 years out of 10. 05/11 is the safer bet, historically only a 1-in-10 chance of frost that late.
How Detroit compares
About 181 days separate Detroit's last and first frost, putting it 24,369 of 40,283 ZIP codes nationally. Within MI, it ranks 69 of 1,153.
Learn more
the frost range covers how to read the range around Detroit's dates instead of trusting one. local microclimates covers what one yard in Detroit can differ from the 48210 normal.