Charlevoix, MI 49711 Frost Dates
49711, near Charlevoix, MI: the frost window
Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 05/01, roughly 246 days out. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/28, roughly 178 days after the last spring frost.
Charlevoix 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
Charlevoix's growing season runs out in roughly 9 weeks — a cold frame or greenhouse kit is the usual way to keep cool-weather crops going past the first frost.
Why 05/01 isn't a guarantee
05/01 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/18 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/16 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Charlevoix against the rest of the dataset
Charlevoix's growing season runs about 178 days, ranking 25,745 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within MI, it ranks 107 of 1,153.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 49711: local microclimates, on what one yard in Charlevoix can differ from the 49711 normal, and zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 6a and Charlevoix's frost date answer different questions.