Hopkins, MI 49323 Frost Dates
49323, near Hopkins, MI: the frost window
Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 05/04, roughly 249 days out. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/15, roughly 160 days after the last spring frost.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Hopkins in Zone 6a (-10 to -5°F average annual minimum); frost dates are NOAA's 1991-2020 station normal, not this year's forecast.
Stretching the season past the first frost
Hopkins's growing season runs out in roughly 7 weeks — a cold frame or greenhouse kit is the usual way to keep cool-weather crops going past the first frost.
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 04/22 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.
Hopkins against the rest of the dataset
At roughly 160 frost-free days, Hopkins places 32,468 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within MI, it ranks 638 of 1,153.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 49323: local microclimates, on what one yard in Hopkins can differ from the 49323 normal, and zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 6a and Hopkins's frost date answer different questions.