Dowagiac, MI 49047 Frost Dates
Dowagiac, MI: when does the frost end?
The last spring frost here typically falls around 05/04, about 249 days from today. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/11, roughly 158 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 Dowagiac, not a forecast for this year.
Stretching the season past the first frost
With roughly 6 weeks until Dowagiac's first fall frost, a row cover or cold frame is what stretches the last few weeks of harvest here.
Why 05/04 isn't a guarantee
05/04 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 05/22 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Dowagiac against the rest of the dataset
Dowagiac's growing season runs about 158 days, ranking 32,964 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within MI, it ranks 663 of 1,153.
Learn more
Before leaning on 49047's figures: local microclimates explains what one yard in Dowagiac can differ from the 49047 normal, while zone vs. frost date explains why Zone 6a and Dowagiac's frost date answer different questions.