Pecatonica, IL 61077 Frost Dates
Pecatonica, IL: when does the frost end?
Around 04/26 is the usual last spring frost, about 241 days away. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/13, roughly 169 days after the last spring frost.
Zone 5b (-15 to -10°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 Pecatonica, not a forecast for this year.
Stretching the season past the first frost
With roughly 7 weeks until Pecatonica's first fall frost, a row cover or cold frame is what stretches the last few weeks of harvest here.
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 05/11 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Pecatonica against the rest of the dataset
Pecatonica's growing season runs about 169 days, ranking 29,473 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within IL, it ranks 1,428 of 1,548.
Learn more
Before leaning on 61077's figures: local microclimates explains what one yard in Pecatonica can differ from the 61077 normal, while zone vs. frost date explains why Zone 5b and Pecatonica's frost date answer different questions.