Dakota, IL 61018 Frost Dates
Dakota, IL: when does the frost end?
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 169 days after the last spring frost.
Zone 5a (-20 to -15°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 Dakota, not a forecast for this year.
Stretching the season past the first frost
With roughly 7 weeks until Dakota's first fall frost, a row cover or cold frame is what stretches the last few weeks of harvest here.
The actual range around Dakota's last frost
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 05/11 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Dakota against the rest of the dataset
Dakota's growing season runs about 169 days, ranking 29,567 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within IL, it ranks 1,435 of 1,548.
Learn more
Before leaning on 61018's figures: zone vs. frost date explains why Zone 5a and Dakota's frost date answer different questions, while the frost range explains how to read the range around Dakota's dates instead of trusting one.