Sterling, IL 61081 Frost Dates
Sterling, 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 167 days after the last spring frost.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Sterling in Zone 5b (-15 to -10°F average annual minimum); frost dates are NOAA's 1991-2020 station normal, not this year's forecast.
Stretching the season past the first frost
With roughly 7 weeks until Sterling's first fall frost, a row cover or cold frame is what stretches the last few weeks of harvest here.
The actual range around Sterling's last frost
04/26 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/13 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.
Sterling against the rest of the dataset
At roughly 167 frost-free days, Sterling places 29,899 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within IL, it ranks 1,452 of 1,548.
Learn more
Before leaning on 61081's figures: the frost range explains how to read the range around Sterling's dates instead of trusting one, while local microclimates explains what one yard in Sterling can differ from the 61081 normal.