Benson, IL 61516 Frost Dates
61516, near Benson, IL: the frost window
Around 04/26 is the usual last spring frost, about 241 days away. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/17, roughly 173 days after the last spring frost.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Benson 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
Benson'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
04/26 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 05/10 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Benson against the rest of the dataset
At roughly 173 frost-free days, Benson places 28,062 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within IL, it ranks 1,325 of 1,548.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 61516: the frost range, on how to read the range around Benson's dates instead of trusting one, and local microclimates, on what one yard in Benson can differ from the 61516 normal.