Fruit Trees for Ironwood, Hurley and the Gogebic Range, Michigan and Wisconsin

The Ironwood weather station has hit −41°F twice, on February 12, 1967 and January 17, 1982, the coldest readings in 123 years of NOAA station records there. The town also averages about 188 inches of snow a year. Deep cold and deep snow are the two facts behind fruit trees for Ironwood, Hurley and the Gogebic Range, and the lay of the land decides which yards take the worst of it. This map covers Ironwood, Bessemer, Ramsay and Wakefield in Michigan's western Upper Peninsula, Hurley, Montreal, Gile and Kimball in Iron County, Wisconsin, and the lower country north of the range around North Ironwood and North Bessemer.

Type your address in the box on the map to get the number for your own place, and the list of what we sell that has come through it.

How to read this map

The big number is the 30-year planning low, the same number our cold hardiness calculator uses, built from NOAA station records since the 1995-96 winter with a small nudge for the ground around you. It leans cold on purpose: it's the number to plan for, not a forecast or the record. The MFTC zone is that number in half zones, and the typical winter is an average year's coldest night, the kind of average USDA's map uses. The spring layer shows how much warmer or colder a spot runs than Ironwood on a still, clear night at bloom.

Downtown Ironwood plans for −33°F (MFTC 3b), typical winter −21°F. The middle of the growing ground plans for −35°F, and half of it falls between −36°F and −34°F. The warm end is the range's own hillsides: Norrie and Jessieville, just east of downtown Ironwood, plan for −31°F, and Anvil above Bessemer −32°F. The cold end is flat ground with nowhere to send its cold. Hartley, on a dead-level floor southeast of Wakefield, plans for −37°F (MFTC 3a), and the coldest twentieth of the growing ground runs −37°F or colder.

Why the map looks the way it does

Start with the ridge. The Gogebic Range (the Penokee Range to many on the Wisconsin side) is a band of hills about half a mile wide, running almost 80 miles from Lake Namakagon to Lake Gogebic and standing 100 to 600 feet above the land around it. The towns sit on it at about 1,430 to 1,700 feet. North of it the land falls 850 to 1,000 feet to Lake Superior in 15 to 18 miles, mostly down the Montreal and Black river gorges; south of it are outwash plains, kettle lakes and swamps. On a clear, calm night chilled air slides off the range both ways and settles wherever the land flattens out or a valley pinches down.

The best ground is the range's flanks, up in the thermal belt where milder air rides over the cold pool. Norrie (140 feet above the local floor), Jessieville (200 feet), Anvil (190 feet) and Wico (170 feet) all plan for −31°F to −32°F, while the floors within 3 miles of Ironwood plan for −35°F and those near Montreal and Bessemer −36°F. At bloom, Norrie, Jessieville and Wico read 8°F to 9°F warmer than Ironwood. A Hungarian study of 69 clear, calm nights found a valley floor averaged 6.7°F colder than a slope 230 feet above it, so a spread like this is normal for hill country. No station sits on these slopes (Ironwood's and Hurley's are at 1,430 and 1,444 feet), so the hillside warmth comes from the terrain and the physics, not a thermometer.

The lower country north of the range runs cold in spring but not on the worst winter nights. The Saxon station, just west of the map on that low ground at 1,165 feet, ran 6°F to 8°F milder than Ironwood on several big outbreak mornings (−33°F against −41°F on February 12, 1967). Yet its median last spring frost is May 30, nine days after Ironwood and Hurley, and its frost-free season is 117 days to their 124. We haven't found a published explanation. Our read: arctic nights with wind behind them run colder up high, and Lake Superior gives the land near it milder winters (NRCS notes it), so the low ground nearer the lake gets the edge. In May the lake is cold, the nights go still, and the cold draining off the range collects below it. The spring layer agrees. North Bessemer, at the foot of the range, reads 8°F colder than Ironwood at bloom, though its planning low (−36°F) is only a degree colder than the middle of the growing ground.

Then there's the snow. This is Big Snow Country: lake-effect snow off Lake Superior, squeezed out harder where the air climbs the range, puts up to 200 inches a year on the hills (about 188 at Ironwood, 155 at Hurley). Snow-covered ground loses heat fast to a clear sky, so the air above it runs colder. But the roots under it stay safe, and roots are the weak link of a dormant fruit tree. Here that trade goes your way.

Water does less than you'd think. Lake Superior is about 18 miles north of Ironwood and some 900 feet below it, too far to help the range much in midwinter, and the inland lakes are shallow (the Gile Flowage is 25 feet at its deepest, and Lake Gogebic averages 17.5 feet), so they freeze early and stop giving off heat. Wet ground matters more. The common upland soils, the Gogebic and Wakefield series, hold water perched 1 to 3 feet down over a fragipan from late fall through spring, and the hollows hold poorly drained soils and peat. Those low, grassy, peaty spots give back little stored heat at night, so they're the likely frost holes. Flat ground does the same even up high: Siemens sits on a bench 120 feet above the floor, but it's nearly level and reads 4°F colder than Ironwood at bloom. And in this forest country, a clearing with woods on its downhill side holds cold air like a bowl.

Ironwood, Michigan: downtown, Norrie, Aurora and Jessieville

Ironwood sits on the range at about 1,505 feet, 100 feet above the local floor, with the Montreal River and Hurley just west. The Norrie, Aurora, Ashland, Newport and Pabst mines all opened inside the city, and Norrie and Aurora still show up as place names on the map. Downtown plans for −33°F (MFTC 3b), typical winter −21°F, and reads within a degree of the reference at bloom. Within 3 miles the benches plan for −33°F, the floors −35°F, and the warmest tenth of the growing ground −32°F.

The hillsides south and east of downtown are the best fruit ground in town. Norrie, on the hill that once held a Strategic Air Command radar bomb-scoring site, sits at 1,598 feet on a 15 percent slope and plans for −31°F (typical −19°F), reading 8°F warmer at bloom. Aurora plans for −32°F on a 6 percent slope, right in the 4 to 8 percent grade Montana State recommends, and reads 7°F warmer; Jessieville, farther east, plans for −31°F. That's ground for Lapins and Gold sweet cherries (both have come through −35°F) and Westcot apricot (−45°F).

Downhill is different. Van Buskirk, at floor level south of town, plans for −35°F and reads 3°F colder at bloom. Mount Zion, the ski hill 1.5 miles north of downtown, is too steep to plant much, but it reads 13°F warmer than Ironwood on a spring frost night. On a downtown lot at −33°F, Honeycrisp and Haralson apples (−45°F), Summercrisp pear (−40°F) and Toka plum (−45°F) with Superior (−35°F) all clear the number. Toka pollenizes Superior.

Hurley, Wisconsin, Cary Park Estates and Orva

Hurley, the Iron County seat, faces Ironwood across the Montreal River, with Silver Street its main street since the 1880s. The map point sits at 1,505 feet, 90 feet above the floor on nearly flat ground: −34°F (MFTC 3b), typical winter −22°F, 2°F warmer than Ironwood at bloom, with benches within 3 miles at −33°F and floors at −35°F. The Hurley station, on file since 1988, bottomed out at −36°F in February 1996, and in shared outbreaks Hurley and Ironwood landed within 1°F to 3°F of each other. The river isn't a climate line.

It is a drain. Below the towns the Montreal runs northwest along the state line to Lake Superior over Peterson, Interstate, Saxon and Superior falls, and its West Fork comes up from the south past Montreal to join it below Hurley. Cary Park Estates, just west of Hurley on a bench 110 feet above the floor, plans for −32°F (typical −20°F) and reads 5°F warmer than Ironwood at bloom. Orva, on flat ground farther west, plans for −35°F and reads 3°F colder: a 3°F winter swing and an 8°F spring swing in about a mile and a half. At Cary Park Estates, Italian plum, Seckel pear and Lapins cherry (all −35°F) fit. At Orva, stay with −40°F and colder, like Zestar!® apple and Luscious pear.

Montreal, Gile, Germania and the Wisconsin side of the range

Montreal, Wisconsin, began about 1917 as the Village of Hamilton. Its Oglebay Norton mine was the world's deepest iron mine (4,335 feet) when it closed in 1962, and the company-built houses are now the Montreal Company Location Historic District. The town sits high, at 1,604 feet on a 6 percent hillside 160 feet above the floor, and plans for −32°F (MFTC 3b), typical winter −20°F, reading 5°F warmer than Ironwood at bloom. Its surroundings have the widest spread of any town on the map: the floors within 3 miles plan for −36°F and the coldest tenth −37°F, the warmest tenth −32°F.

It runs colder down toward the Gile Flowage, a shallow reservoir on the West Fork about three quarters of a mile east-southeast of town. Gile, by the flowage on a toe slope 50 feet above the floor, plans for −35°F and reads 1°F colder than Ironwood at bloom. Germania, a third of a mile north on an 8.6 percent slope, plans for −33°F and reads 3°F warmer. One is on the slope the cold drains across, the other near the bottom it drains into. Southwest along the range, Pence (180 feet above its floor) plans for −33°F and Iron Belt −35°F (MFTC 3a).

On Montreal's hillsides the −35°F trees fit with a few degrees to spare: Lapins and Gold cherries, Italian plum, Bartlett pear, and apricots like Westcot and Debbie's Gold (−50°F). Around Gile and Iron Belt, pick from the −40°F list. If you're farther south in Wisconsin's Northwoods, the Rhinelander, Minocqua and Northwoods map covers you.

Bessemer, Anvil, Puritan and Ramsay

Bessemer, the Gogebic County seat, is built mostly on the north side of Colby Hill, in a run of hills and valleys. The downtown point sits on a flat bench 110 feet above the floor at 1,433 feet: −35°F (MFTC 3a), typical winter −23°F, 4°F warmer than Ironwood at bloom. Within 3 miles the floors plan for −36°F, but the benches plan for −33°F and the warmest tenth −31°F, some of the best ground on the map, so hillside lots beat downtown by 2°F to 4°F.

The old mine locations are the warm ground. Anvil Location, founded in 1886, sits at 1,593 feet on a 9 percent slope 190 feet above the floor and plans for −32°F (typical −20°F). Puritan, whose Ruby mine closed in 1941 as the first major range mine to shut down, plans for −32°F and reads 6°F warmer at bloom. Siemens, on the flat bench west of town, plans for −34°F and reads 4°F colder. Height doesn't save you if the cold has nowhere to go.

Ramsay, a few miles east on the Black River and home of the 1891 Keystone Arch Bridge, sits on a toe slope 30 feet above the floor. It plans for −36°F (MFTC 3a), typical winter −24°F, but its ground falls toward the river and it reads 2°F warmer at bloom. Verona, just northeast and 150 feet up, plans for −35°F and reads 7°F warmer; Planter, on river-bottom ground to the north, plans for −36°F and reads 3°F colder. Bessemer's hillsides suit Sungold apricot (−40°F), Toka and Superior plums and Ashmead's Kernel apple (−35°F). At Ramsay, step down to Frostbite apple (−45°F) and Brookgold plum (−50°F).

Wakefield, Sunday Lake, Wico and Plymouth

Wakefield sits on Sunday Lake about 10 miles east of the Wisconsin line, at around 1,530 feet, with Indianhead Mountain just west of town. It plans for −36°F (MFTC 3a), typical winter −24°F, and reads 1°F colder than Ironwood at bloom; the benches within 3 miles plan for −33°F. The map runs colder going east (Ironwood −33°F, Bessemer −35°F, Wakefield and Ramsay −36°F), mostly from the station records under the number; the terrain nudge at Wakefield is less than 1°F.

Sunday Lake won't keep the town warm. Ice still covered most of it on March 30, 2021, and there was ice on it on May 1, 2014. The good ground is the range west of town. Wico (1,636 feet, 170 feet above the floor) and Plymouth (1,620 feet, 160 feet up) plan for −32°F and −33°F and read 9°F warmer than Ironwood at bloom, good enough for Westcot and Debbie's Gold apricots and White Gold sweet cherry (−35°F).

Southeast of town the country flattens out toward Lake Gogebic. Hartley, on dead-level ground only 10 feet above the lowest ground around it, plans for −37°F (MFTC 3a), typical winter −25°F, and reads 4°F colder at bloom, the coldest named spot on the map. In Wakefield and out toward Hartley, plant from the −40°F and colder list: Wealthy apple, Kerr and Trailman applecrabs, Bolshaya pear, Northern Blue plum and Evan's Bali tart cherry.

North of the range: North Ironwood, Kimball, Junet and North Bessemer

Drop off the north face of the range and you're in the lower country, about 1,180 to 1,380 feet, on old Glacial Lake Duluth deposits sloping toward Lake Superior. The Gogebic-Iron County Airport is out here, about 7 miles northeast of Ironwood. On the planning night this isn't the cold end. North Ironwood, on the floor at 1,192 feet, plans for −34°F (typical −22°F), Auvinen Corner −34°F, Hautala Corner and Thomaston −35°F, and Junet and North Bessemer −36°F.

Spring is the catch. The cold that drains off the range on a still night ends up here. North Bessemer, at the foot of the range with no height above its floor, reads 8°F colder than Ironwood at bloom, the worst of any named place on the map, and North Ironwood reads 4°F colder. Plant apples, plums and bush fruit here, and skip apricots and sweet cherries unless you've got a real rise to put them on.

Not all of it is flat. Kimball, on the Wisconsin side, sits on a bench 120 feet above its floor, plans for −35°F and reads 2°F warmer than Ironwood at bloom. Point Mountain, in the northwest, tops out around 1,240 feet, lower than downtown Ironwood, yet it stands 540 feet above the ground around it and reads 14°F warmer at bloom. Height above the nearest low ground is what counts. West toward Mellen and Ashland, the Bayfield, Ashland and Chequamegon map picks up, with the Bayfield Peninsula's orchards on Lake Superior.

Spring frost and bloom on the Gogebic Range

NOAA station records put the median last 32°F frost at May 21 at both Ironwood and Hurley (1991 to 2020), and the last 28°F at May 8 in Ironwood and May 13 in Hurley. One year in ten the last 32°F comes June 6 to 8. The first fall 32°F comes September 26 to 29, for 124 frost-free days. At Saxon, on the low ground, it's May 30 and 117 days. (NRCS gives the wider soil region about 100 frost-free days, so sources differ.)

Bloom-night frost follows the same drainage as the winter cold, only stronger, because spring frost pools are shallow (the FAO's frost protection manual puts the top of the cold layer 30 to 200 feet up on most frost nights) and the hillsides stand above them. From Plymouth at 9°F warmer than Ironwood to North Bessemer at 8°F colder is 17°F, and North Carolina State's fruit people note that 3°F to 4°F can separate no crop from a full one.

Open blossoms of apple, pear, cherry, peach, apricot and plum all start dying near 28°F (Michigan State Extension), but only about 15 percent of apple blossoms need to set for a crop (University of Minnesota), and open haskap flowers take 19°F. In spring 2026 a 15°F bloom-time frost at Ed Schultz's farm in Gallatin Gateway, Montana left him no fruit at all. Short of that, most fruit can lose half its blossoms with little effect (clustered fruit like cherries and grapes has less to spare); frost mostly thins.

So site comes first. Put apricots, sweet cherries and plums on hillside ground with a plus reading on the spring layer (Bob Purvis likes an east-facing slope), and keep the low corners for apples, haskap, currants and gooseberries. Through bloom, mow the grass under the trees below 2 inches and don't till. And don't trust a warm spell: in 2012 a record-warm March pushed Wisconsin's bloom early, and a mid-April frost cut the state's apple crop in half.

What the weather records say

The Ironwood station, with 123 years on file back to 1902, averages a yearly low of −26°F. Besides its two −41°F mornings it hit −38°F on February 19, 1966, −40°F on January 9, 1977, −38°F on January 31, 1985 and −37°F on February 3, 1996. That February the Hurley station (on file since 1988) bottomed out at −36°F and Saxon set its −37°F record. Saxon usually ran milder than Ironwood, but not always: on January 27, 1997, it read −35°F to Ironwood's −33°F and Hurley's −30°F.

Since the 1995-96 winter, the window our numbers use, the coldest readings are those February 1996 lows, 2°F to 3°F past the stations' own 30-year numbers (−35°F at Ironwood, −33°F at Hurley). The average winter low since then is about −22°F at both. A planning low isn't a floor, so leave room to spare where you can.

Wind makes headlines more than it hurts trees. On January 27, 2014, 20 mph north winds put the wind chill at −39°F at Big Powderhorn and shut its lifts, while Ironwood was still at −11°F at 1 p.m. Wind chill is about warm bodies, though; moving air can't pull a dry bud below the air temperature. What matters is wind scouring snow off exposed crests.

USDA's 2023 map is built on the 1991 to 2020 average of each winter's coldest night. We couldn't confirm its zone for Ironwood or Hurley, so look up your ZIP on USDA's site and expect it to read warmer. NOAA station records show the worst night in about 30 winters runs a median 13°F below a station's average winter low, which is why our MFTC zones (3b around Ironwood, Hurley and Montreal and on the hillsides, 3a in Bessemer, Wakefield and the cold spots) usually read more than a full zone colder.

What you can grow here

Our ratings are the coldest temperature each plant is known to have come through, so match them straight to the planning low at your spot.

Range hillsides that plan for −32°F or warmer

Norrie, Jessieville, Aurora, Anvil, Puritan, Wico, Montreal and Cary Park Estates: the only ground here where early bloomers make real sense. Apples: Honeycrisp, Cortland, Empire and Ashmead's Kernel. Pears: Bartlett, Seckel and Luscious. Plums: Toka with Superior, and Italian. Sweet cherries: Lapins and Gold, the hardiest we've found (a grower of ours in Cowley, Wyoming saw no damage on Lapins at −33°F). Apricots: Westcot, Debbie's Gold and Sungold. Worth a try with snow over the roots: Liberty apple and Stanley plum, rated −30°F, a degree or two short. Siberian C peach has come through −35°F, but it ripens very late, so with about 124 frost-free days it's a long shot.

Town lots, benches and the low country, −33°F to −35°F

Downtown Ironwood and Hurley, Bessemer, Plymouth, Germania, Pence, Hillcrest, Gile, Kimball and North Ironwood. Plant from −40°F and colder, and save the −35°F trees for the −33°F end. Apples: Haralson, Frostbite, Wolf River, Snowsweet® and Zestar!®. Applecrabs: Kerr and Trailman (if you only plant one tree, make it one of these). Pears: Summercrisp, Ure and Flemish Beauty. Plums: Toka, Brookgold and Kaga. Tart cherries: Evan's Bali (good to at least −40°F to −45°F) and Meteor. Apricots like Westcot or Morden 604 only where the spring layer reads warm, so not at North Ironwood.

Wakefield, Ramsay, Hartley and the cold flats, −35°F to −38°F

Wakefield, Ramsay, Planter, Junet, North Bessemer, Iron Belt, Orva, Hartley and the bottoms anywhere on the map. Plant what has come through −40°F or colder, and lean on the −45°F and −50°F trees at the cold end. Apples: Mantet, Parkland and Wealthy (all −50°F) and Goodland (−45°F). Crabs: Rescue, Centennial (Ed Schultz saw zero winter injury on it after a winter that hit −47°F) and Dolgo. Pears: Bolshaya and Krasnobokaya. Plums: Brookred, Northern Blue and Ptitsin #5. Cherries: Evan's Bali, Romeo and Juliet dwarf cherries, and Nanking cherry.

Bush fruit, anywhere on the map

Honeyberry (haskap) has come through −50°F and its open flowers take 19°F, the safest fruit there is for the bottoms. Montana Black Currant (−50°F), Red Lake currant and Pixwell gooseberry (−40°F), Boyne raspberry (−40°F) and Aronia (−50°F) all fit. Raspberries, honeyberries, currants and gooseberries came through our hard 2026 spring well, and Red Lake and Montana Black Currant fruited after their flower buds saw about 22°F.

Roots, soil, season and site

Snow is your rootstock's best friend. At Ed Schultz's farm in Gallatin Gateway, Bud 118 apple rootstock has seen near −50°F under snow with no rootstock damage. The danger is bare spots, like a windswept crest or a plowed edge; in 2025 the University of Wisconsin's fruit program saw snow cover protect the rootstock shank where bare ground left it exposed. The same report found early-winter injury after a warm fall, which is why hardening off matters as much as the January low.

On fragipan soils, test drainage before you plant: dig 2 feet down, fill the hole, let it drain, refill it, and if that drains in under 10 hours you're well drained. If not, find a slope that sheds water. These soils run acid (pH 4.0 to 5.9 on one NRCS upland site), so get a soil test. And 117 to 124 frost-free days is under the 135 the University of Vermont treats as short-season country, so keep the latest apples and pears on the warm hillsides.

Harden trees off in fall: we taper water from mid-August in zone 4 and colder, with no late nitrogen and no late-fall pruning. Timing beats depth; Michigan tart cherry buds that died at about −12°F in November survived about −20°F in January. Montana State recommends an uphill site on a 4 to 8 percent grade, and Bob Purvis says plant on a slope, but not on a windswept hilltop or down in the bottom. Give trees at least 6 hours of direct sun (8 to 10 is better), which in this forest country means a real clearing. Most fruit wants a pollenizer; our pollination maps show which varieties pair up.

Questions people ask

What growing zone is Ironwood, Michigan?

Our map plans for −33°F in downtown Ironwood, MFTC zone 3b, with −31°F on the best hillsides and −35°F on the floors nearby. We couldn't confirm USDA's 2023 zone for Ironwood, so check your ZIP on USDA's site. USDA's zone is based on an average winter (about −21°F here), ours on the bad night we plan for, so ours reads colder.

When is the last frost in Ironwood, Michigan?

NOAA station records put the median last 32°F frost at May 21 at both Ironwood and Hurley (1991 to 2020), and one year in ten it comes as late as June 6 to 8. The first fall frost comes around September 26 to 29, for about 124 frost-free days.

Can you grow apples in Hurley, Wisconsin?

Yes. Hurley plans for −34°F (MFTC 3b), and Honeycrisp and Haralson have come through −45°F, Cortland and Zestar!® −40°F. Plant on ground that sheds cold air and water, and keep snow over the roots. The bigger limit is the season, about 124 frost-free days, so the latest apples may not ripen.

What fruit trees grow in the western Upper Peninsula?

On the Gogebic Range, trees that have come through −35°F fit the warm hillsides, and the flats and bottoms want −40°F and colder: hardy apples and applecrabs, pears like Summercrisp, plums like Toka and Brookgold, and Evan's Bali tart cherry. Haskap and currants fit anywhere. Lapins and Gold sweet cherries and Westcot apricots belong only on hillsides that read warm at bloom.

Does all that snow protect fruit tree roots?

Yes, and it's the best thing going for growers here. Ironwood averages about 188 inches a year, and roots, the weak link of a dormant tree, stay safe under it; Bud 118 rootstock has seen near −50°F under snow with no damage at a grower's farm in Montana. Where wind or plowing strips the snow, roots are exposed.

Where are the frost pockets around Ironwood, Bessemer and Wakefield?

The flats and bottoms. North Bessemer, at the foot of the range, runs 8°F colder than Ironwood on a still bloom night, and North Ironwood, Hartley and Siemens (a dead-flat bench between Ironwood and Bessemer) run 4°F colder. The hillsides at Norrie, Jessieville, Wico and Plymouth run 8°F to 9°F warmer.

Warmer spots, colder spots

Here's the number to plan for at named places on the map, warmest first. Each one is the 1-in-30-year low for that spot: the cold hardiness calculator's number from the same weather stations, sharpened by our microclimate model for the ground right there. Zone is our MFTC zone, set by that one bad night, not by an average.

The weather stations behind it

These are the long-record stations in and around this map, with each one's own numbers since the winter of 1995-96. The last column is this map's 30-year number right at the station, which won't match the station exactly: it's a blend of the stations around it, the way the calculator works everywhere.

Source: NOAA records through ACIS, winters 1995-96 through 2025-26. What the "carried forward," "gaps filled" and AWOS rows mean is explained in how our microclimate maps work.