Chicago, IL 60006 Frost Dates
Chicago, IL: when does the frost end?
The last spring frost here typically falls around 04/11, about 226 days from today. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/31, roughly 201 days after the last spring frost.
Chicago 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
With roughly 9 weeks until Chicago's first fall frost, a row cover or cold frame is what stretches the last few weeks of harvest here.
How much risk comes with planting early here
04/11 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 03/30 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 04/27 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Chicago against the rest of the dataset
At roughly 201 frost-free days, Chicago places 17,403 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within IL, it ranks 197 of 1,548.
Learn more
Before leaning on 60006's figures: the frost range explains how to read the range around Chicago's dates instead of trusting one, while local microclimates explains what one yard in Chicago can differ from the 60006 normal.