FrostDateCheck

Kalamazoo, MI 49041 Frost Dates

Kalamazoo, MI: when does the frost end?

Zone 6a

The last spring frost here typically falls around 04/29, about 244 days from today. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/20, roughly 173 days after the last spring frost.

Kalamazoo sits in USDA Zone 6a (-10 to -5°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.

Stretching the season past the first frost

With roughly 8 weeks until Kalamazoo's first fall frost, a row cover or cold frame is what stretches the last few weeks of harvest here.

Why 04/29 isn't a guarantee

04/29 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 05/18 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.

Kalamazoo against the rest of the dataset

About 173 days separate Kalamazoo's last and first frost, putting it 27,736 of 40,283 ZIP codes nationally. Within MI, it ranks 198 of 1,153.

Learn more

Before leaning on 49041's figures: zone vs. frost date explains why Zone 6a and Kalamazoo's frost date answer different questions, while the frost range explains how to read the range around Kalamazoo's dates instead of trusting one.