Urbana, IL 61802 Frost Dates
Urbana, IL: when does the frost end?
Around 04/15 is the usual last spring frost, about 230 days away. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/24, roughly 190 days after the last spring frost.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Urbana 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
With roughly 8 weeks until Urbana's first fall frost, a row cover or cold frame is what stretches the last few weeks of harvest here.
Why 04/15 isn't a guarantee
04/15 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/01 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 04/29 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Urbana against the rest of the dataset
About 190 days separate Urbana's last and first frost, putting it 21,028 of 40,283 ZIP codes nationally. Within IL, it ranks 495 of 1,548.
Learn more
Before leaning on 61802's figures: local microclimates explains what one yard in Urbana can differ from the 61802 normal, while zone vs. frost date explains why Zone 6a and Urbana's frost date answer different questions.