Kewanee, IL 61443 Frost Dates
61443, near Kewanee, IL: the frost window
The last spring frost here typically falls around 04/24, about 239 days from today. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/17, roughly 175 days after the last spring frost.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Kewanee 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
Kewanee's growing season runs out in roughly 7 weeks — a cold frame or greenhouse kit is the usual way to keep cool-weather crops going past the first frost.
How much risk comes with planting early here
04/24 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/10 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/08 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Kewanee against the rest of the dataset
About 175 days separate Kewanee's last and first frost, putting it 26,793 of 40,283 ZIP codes nationally. Within IL, it ranks 1,198 of 1,548.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 61443: local microclimates, on what one yard in Kewanee can differ from the 61443 normal, and zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 5b and Kewanee's frost date answer different questions.