Maple Rapids, MI 48853 Frost Dates
48853, near Maple Rapids, MI: the frost window
The last spring frost here typically falls around 04/28, about 243 days from today. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/24, roughly 179 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 Maple Rapids, not a forecast for this year.
Stretching the season past the first frost
Maple Rapids's growing season runs out in roughly 8 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
04/28 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/12 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/12 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Maple Rapids against the rest of the dataset
Maple Rapids's growing season runs about 179 days, ranking 25,439 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within MI, it ranks 101 of 1,153.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 48853: zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 6a and Maple Rapids's frost date answer different questions, and the frost range, on how to read the range around Maple Rapids's dates instead of trusting one.