Stephenson, MI 49887 Frost Dates
49887, near Stephenson, MI: the frost window
Around 05/22 is the usual last spring frost, about 267 days away. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 09/27, roughly 126 days after the last spring frost.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Stephenson in Zone 5a (-20 to -15°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
Stephenson's growing season runs out in roughly 4 weeks — a cold frame or greenhouse kit is the usual way to keep cool-weather crops going past the first frost.
The actual range around Stephenson's last frost
05/22 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 05/07 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 06/04 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Stephenson against the rest of the dataset
About 126 days separate Stephenson's last and first frost, putting it 38,699 of 40,283 ZIP codes nationally. Within MI, it ranks 1,069 of 1,153.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 49887: local microclimates, on what one yard in Stephenson can differ from the 49887 normal, and zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 5a and Stephenson's frost date answer different questions.