Gilman, IL 60938 Frost Dates
60938, near Gilman, IL: the frost window
The last spring frost here typically falls around 04/25, about 240 days from today. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/20, roughly 175 days after the last spring frost.
Gilman 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
Gilman'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.
Why 04/25 isn't a guarantee
04/25 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 05/10 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Gilman against the rest of the dataset
At roughly 175 frost-free days, Gilman places 27,017 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within IL, it ranks 1,200 of 1,548.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 60938: local microclimates, on what one yard in Gilman can differ from the 60938 normal, and zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 5b and Gilman's frost date answer different questions.