Catlin, IL 61817 Frost Dates
61817, near Catlin, IL: the frost window
Around 04/19 is the usual last spring frost, about 234 days away. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/19, roughly 181 days after the last spring frost.
Catlin sits in USDA Zone 6a (-10 to -5°F average annual minimum). The dates above are NOAA's 1991-2020 normal at the nearest reporting station, a 30-year average, not a forecast.
Stretching the season past the first frost
Catlin'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
04/19 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/04 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/03 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Catlin against the rest of the dataset
Catlin's growing season runs about 181 days, ranking 24,599 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within IL, it ranks 921 of 1,548.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 61817: local microclimates, on what one yard in Catlin can differ from the 61817 normal, and zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 6a and Catlin's frost date answer different questions.