Cadillac, MI 49601 Frost Dates
49601, near Cadillac, MI: the frost window
The last spring frost here typically falls around 05/15, about 260 days from today. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/01, roughly 139 days after the last spring frost.
Cadillac sits in USDA Zone 5a (-20 to -15°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
Cadillac's growing season runs out in roughly 5 weeks — a cold frame or greenhouse kit is the usual way to keep cool-weather crops going past the first frost.
Why 05/15 isn't a guarantee
05/15 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/30 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/30 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Cadillac against the rest of the dataset
Cadillac's growing season runs about 139 days, ranking 37,212 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within MI, it ranks 917 of 1,153.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 49601: zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 5a and Cadillac's frost date answer different questions, and the frost range, on how to read the range around Cadillac's dates instead of trusting one.