Elmhurst, IL 60126 Frost Dates
Frost dates for Elmhurst, IL, ZIP 60126
The last spring frost here typically falls around 04/16, about 231 days from today. The first fall frost typically arrives around 10/28, about 193 frost-free days later.
Zone 6a (-10 to -5°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 Elmhurst, not a forecast for this year.
What to do before the first frost
Zone 6a around Elmhurst 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.
Why 04/16 isn't a guarantee
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 Elmhurst compares
At roughly 193 frost-free days, Elmhurst places 19,728 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within IL, it ranks 371 of 1,548.
Learn more
zone vs. frost date explains why Zone 6a and Elmhurst's frost date answer different questions, and the frost range explains how to read the range around Elmhurst's dates instead of trusting one.