Monroe Center, IL 60129 Frost Dates
60129, near Monroe Center, IL: the frost window
The last spring frost here typically falls around 04/26, about 241 days from today. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/13, roughly 168 days after the last spring frost.
Monroe Center sits in USDA Zone 5b (-15 to -10°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
Monroe Center's growing season runs out in roughly 7 weeks — a cold frame or greenhouse kit is the usual way to keep cool-weather crops going past the first frost.
Why 04/26 isn't a guarantee
04/26 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/11 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/12 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Monroe Center against the rest of the dataset
At roughly 168 frost-free days, Monroe Center places 29,773 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within IL, it ranks 1,446 of 1,548.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 60129: local microclimates, on what one yard in Monroe Center can differ from the 60129 normal, and zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 5b and Monroe Center's frost date answer different questions.