West Peoria, IL 61636 Frost Dates
61636, near West Peoria, IL: the frost window
Around 04/16 is the usual last spring frost, about 231 days away. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/23, roughly 189 days after the last spring frost.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts West Peoria in Zone 6a (-10 to -5°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
West Peoria'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.
How much risk comes with planting early here
04/16 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/02 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/04 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
West Peoria against the rest of the dataset
About 189 days separate West Peoria's last and first frost, putting it 21,567 of 40,283 ZIP codes nationally. Within IL, it ranks 599 of 1,548.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 61636: zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 6a and West Peoria's frost date answer different questions, and the frost range, on how to read the range around West Peoria's dates instead of trusting one.