Steger, IL 60475 Frost Dates
60475, near Steger, IL: the frost window
Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 04/23, roughly 238 days out. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/20, roughly 179 days after the last spring frost.
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 Steger, not a forecast for this year.
Stretching the season past the first frost
Steger's growing season runs out in roughly 8 weeks — a cold frame or greenhouse kit is the usual way to keep cool-weather crops going past the first frost.
How much risk comes with planting early here
04/23 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/09 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/11 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Steger against the rest of the dataset
Steger's growing season runs about 179 days, ranking 25,246 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within IL, it ranks 1,014 of 1,548.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 60475: zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 6a and Steger's frost date answer different questions, and the frost range, on how to read the range around Steger's dates instead of trusting one.