Des Plaines, IL 60017 Frost Dates
Frost dates for Des Plaines, IL, ZIP 60017
Around 04/16 is the usual last spring frost, about 231 days away. The first fall frost typically arrives around 10/28, about 193 frost-free days later.
Des Plaines 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.
What to do before the first frost
Zone 6a around Des Plaines has about 9 weeks left before the first fall frost — that's the usual window to get a cold frame up if you want to keep harvesting past it.
The actual range around Des Plaines's last frost
04/16 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Plant by 04/03 and you're betting against frost in roughly 9 years out of 10. 05/01 is the safer bet, historically only a 1-in-10 chance of frost that late.
How Des Plaines compares
About 193 days separate Des Plaines's last and first frost, putting it 19,724 of 40,283 ZIP codes nationally. Within IL, it ranks 369 of 1,548.
Learn more
zone vs. frost date explains why Zone 6a and Des Plaines's frost date answer different questions, and the frost range explains how to read the range around Des Plaines's dates instead of trusting one.