Henning, IL 61848 Frost Dates
61848, near Henning, IL: the frost window
The last spring frost here typically falls around 04/22, about 237 days from today. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/19, roughly 180 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 Henning, not a forecast for this year.
Stretching the season past the first frost
Henning'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
04/22 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/07 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/08 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Henning against the rest of the dataset
Henning's growing season runs about 180 days, ranking 25,078 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within IL, it ranks 979 of 1,548.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 61848: local microclimates, on what one yard in Henning can differ from the 61848 normal, and zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 6a and Henning's frost date answer different questions.