Sterling, MI 48613 Frost Dates
Frost dates for Sterling, MI, ZIP 48613
Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 05/05, roughly 250 days out. The first fall frost typically arrives around 10/10, about 156 frost-free days later.
Zone 5b (-15 to -10°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 Sterling, not a forecast for this year.
What to do before the first frost
Zone 5b around Sterling has about 6 weeks left before the first fall frost — that's the usual window to get a cold frame up if you want to keep harvesting past it.
Why 05/05 isn't a guarantee
05/05 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Plant by 04/21 and you're betting against frost in roughly 9 years out of 10. 05/23 is the safer bet, historically only a 1-in-10 chance of frost that late.
How Sterling compares
At roughly 156 frost-free days, Sterling places 33,786 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within MI, it ranks 757 of 1,153.
Learn more
local microclimates explains what one yard in Sterling can differ from the 48613 normal, and zone vs. frost date explains why Zone 5b and Sterling's frost date answer different questions.