Elgin, IL 60123 Frost Dates
Frost dates for Elgin, IL, ZIP 60123
Around 04/30 is the usual last spring frost, about 245 days away. The first fall frost typically arrives around 10/13, about 163 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 Elgin, not a forecast for this year.
What to do before the first frost
Zone 5b around Elgin has about 7 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.
Why 04/30 isn't a guarantee
04/30 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Plant by 04/17 and you're betting against frost in roughly 9 years out of 10. 05/16 is the safer bet, historically only a 1-in-10 chance of frost that late.
How Elgin compares
At roughly 163 frost-free days, Elgin places 31,277 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within IL, it ranks 1,508 of 1,548.
Learn more
zone vs. frost date explains why Zone 5b and Elgin's frost date answer different questions, and the frost range explains how to read the range around Elgin's dates instead of trusting one.