Good Hope, IL 61438 Frost Dates
61438, near Good Hope, IL: the frost window
The last spring frost here typically falls around 04/17, about 232 days from today. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/22, roughly 185 days after the last spring frost.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Good Hope 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
Good Hope'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.
The actual range around Good Hope's last frost
04/17 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/04 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/02 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Good Hope against the rest of the dataset
Good Hope's growing season runs about 185 days, ranking 23,305 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within IL, it ranks 844 of 1,548.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 61438: local microclimates, on what one yard in Good Hope can differ from the 61438 normal, and zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 5b and Good Hope's frost date answer different questions.