Ashmore, IL 61912 Frost Dates
61912, near Ashmore, IL: the frost window
Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 04/15, roughly 230 days out. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/23, roughly 187 days after the last spring frost.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Ashmore 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
Ashmore'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
04/15 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 05/03 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Ashmore against the rest of the dataset
Ashmore's growing season runs about 187 days, ranking 22,536 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within IL, it ranks 780 of 1,548.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 61912: local microclimates, on what one yard in Ashmore can differ from the 61912 normal, and zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 6a and Ashmore's frost date answer different questions.