Traverse City, MI 49696 Frost Dates
Frost dates for Traverse City, MI, ZIP 49696
Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 05/09, roughly 254 days out. The first fall frost typically arrives around 10/15, about 156 frost-free days later.
Traverse City sits in USDA Zone 5b (-15 to -10°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.
What to do before the first frost
Zone 5b around Traverse City has about 7 weeks left before the first fall frost — that's the usual window to get a cold frame up if you want to keep harvesting past it.
The actual range around Traverse City's last frost
05/09 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Plant by 04/26 and you're betting against frost in roughly 9 years out of 10. 05/23 is the safer bet, historically only a 1-in-10 chance of frost that late.
How Traverse City compares
Traverse City's growing season runs about 156 days, ranking 33,544 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within MI, it ranks 738 of 1,153.
Learn more
local microclimates explains what one yard in Traverse City can differ from the 49696 normal, and zone vs. frost date explains why Zone 5b and Traverse City's frost date answer different questions.