Vernon, MI 48476 Frost Dates
48476, near Vernon, MI: the frost window
Around 05/03 is the usual last spring frost, about 248 days away. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/11, roughly 159 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 Vernon, not a forecast for this year.
Stretching the season past the first frost
Vernon's growing season runs out in roughly 6 weeks — a cold frame or greenhouse kit is the usual way to keep cool-weather crops going past the first frost.
How much risk comes with planting early here
05/03 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/21 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/19 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Vernon against the rest of the dataset
At roughly 159 frost-free days, Vernon places 32,712 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within MI, it ranks 655 of 1,153.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 48476: the frost range, on how to read the range around Vernon's dates instead of trusting one, and local microclimates, on what one yard in Vernon can differ from the 48476 normal.