Michigan Microclimate Maps

Click a box to open that map. Each one gives you the 30-year planning low at your address, your MFTC zone, the spring frost layer and the fruit trees that fit.

• 1Big Rapids, Cadillac and Clare
  Big Rapids, Cadillac, Clare, Lake City, Reed City, Evart, Harrison, Houghton Lake, Mount Pleasant

  On February 3, 1996 the flats west of Houghton Lake hit −38°F while Mount Pleasant read −15°F. Cadillac plans for −31°F, Reed City −35°F and Clare −24°F.

• 2Houghton and the Keweenaw
  Houghton, Hancock, Calumet, Chassell, Copper Harbor

  On February 27, 2015, Jacobsville on Keweenaw Bay hit −26°F while Copper Harbor, at the tip of the peninsula, stopped at −9°F. Here's how Lake Superior, the waterway and the ridge set the cold, and what grows where.

• 3Iron Mountain, Kingsford and the Menominee River
  Iron Mountain, Kingsford, Norway, Quinnesec, Florence, Niagara

  On February 17, 1979, the Brule Island station in the Florence County uplands hit −48°F while the river station in Kingsford, 13 miles away, read −34°F. Here's where the cold settles along the Menominee, and what grows where.

• 4Ironwood, Hurley and the Gogebic Range
  Ironwood, Hurley, Bessemer, Wakefield, Montreal

  The Ironwood station has hit −41°F twice, in 1967 and 1982, and the town averages about 188 inches of snow a year. Here's where the cold settles on the Gogebic Range, and what grows where.

• 5Marquette, Ishpeming and Negaunee
  Marquette, Ishpeming, Negaunee, Harvey, Sands, Palmer

  In the February 2015 cold snap, Clarksburg, northwest of Ishpeming, hit −38°F and the Marquette station on Lake Superior bottomed out at −13°F. Here's how the lake and the climb onto the range set the cold, and what grows where.

• 6Petoskey, Charlevoix and Gaylord
  Petoskey, Charlevoix, Harbor Springs, Boyne City, Gaylord

  On January 21, 2019 the Gaylord airport read −23°F while the Charlevoix airport, out between Lake Michigan and Lake Charlevoix, read −5°F. This map shows where your place falls between those two, and why.

• 7Traverse City and Grand Traverse Bay
  Traverse City, Old Mission, Suttons Bay, Elk Rapids, Interlochen, Kingsley

  In the February 2015 cold snap, Cherry Capital Airport read −22°F, the Leelanau research farm −14°F and Fife Lake −29°F. Around Traverse City, where you plant decides which winter, and which bloom nights, your trees get.