Lansing, MI 48842 Frost Dates
Frost dates for Lansing, MI, ZIP 48842
Around 04/28 is the usual last spring frost, about 243 days away. The first fall frost typically arrives around 10/17, about 173 frost-free days later.
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 Lansing, not a forecast for this year.
What to do before the first frost
Zone 6a around Lansing has about 7 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 04/28 isn't a guarantee
04/28 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Plant by 04/13 and you're betting against frost in roughly 9 years out of 10. 05/16 is the safer bet, historically only a 1-in-10 chance of frost that late.
How Lansing compares
At roughly 173 frost-free days, Lansing places 27,682 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within MI, it ranks 189 of 1,153.
Learn more
the frost range explains how to read the range around Lansing's dates instead of trusting one, and local microclimates explains what one yard in Lansing can differ from the 48842 normal.