Rockton, IL 61072 Frost Dates
Rockton, IL: when does the frost end?
Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 05/01, roughly 246 days out. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/12, roughly 162 days after the last spring frost.
Rockton 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
With roughly 6 weeks until Rockton's first fall frost, a row cover or cold frame is what stretches the last few weeks of harvest here.
How much risk comes with planting early here
05/01 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/17 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/16 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Rockton against the rest of the dataset
About 162 days separate Rockton's last and first frost, putting it 31,702 of 40,283 ZIP codes nationally. Within IL, it ranks 1,534 of 1,548.
Learn more
Before leaning on 61072's figures: local microclimates explains what one yard in Rockton can differ from the 61072 normal, while zone vs. frost date explains why Zone 5b and Rockton's frost date answer different questions.