FrostDateCheck

Lexington, IL 61753 Frost Dates

61753, near Lexington, IL: the frost window

Zone 6a

The last spring frost here typically falls around 04/25, about 240 days from today. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/16, roughly 172 days after the last spring frost.

Zone 6a (-10 to -5°F average annual minimum) comes from the USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map; the frost dates above are the 1991-2020 normal at the nearest reporting NOAA station for Lexington, not a forecast for this year.

Stretching the season past the first frost

Lexington'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.

Why 04/25 isn't a guarantee

04/25 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 05/11 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.

Lexington against the rest of the dataset

About 172 days separate Lexington's last and first frost, putting it 28,342 of 40,283 ZIP codes nationally. Within IL, it ranks 1,345 of 1,548.

Learn more

Two guides worth reading on 61753: the frost range, on how to read the range around Lexington's dates instead of trusting one, and local microclimates, on what one yard in Lexington can differ from the 61753 normal.