FrostDateCheck

Palatine, IL 60067 Frost Dates

When can you plant in Palatine, IL?

Zone 5b

Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 04/25, roughly 240 days out. The first fall frost typically arrives around 10/19, about 177 frost-free days later.

Zone 5b (-15 to -10°F average annual minimum) comes from the USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map; the frost dates above are the 1991-2020 normal at the nearest reporting NOAA station for Palatine, not a forecast for this year.

What to do before the first frost

About 7 weeks of growing season left in Palatine before the first fall frost — a cold frame or row cover can stretch harvest weeks past that date.

The actual range around Palatine's last frost

04/25 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Plant by 04/10 and you're betting against frost in roughly 9 years out of 10. 05/12 is the safer bet, historically only a 1-in-10 chance of frost that late.

How Palatine compares

About 177 days separate Palatine's last and first frost, putting it 25,980 of 40,283 ZIP codes nationally. Within IL, it ranks 1,115 of 1,548.

Learn more

local microclimates covers what one yard in Palatine can differ from the 60067 normal. zone vs. frost date covers why Zone 5b and Palatine's frost date answer different questions.