Gays, IL 61928 Frost Dates
61928, near Gays, IL: the frost window
The last spring frost here typically falls around 04/16, about 231 days from today. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/22, roughly 187 days after the last spring frost.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Gays 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
Gays'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.
The actual range around Gays's last frost
04/16 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/03 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 04/30 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Gays against the rest of the dataset
At roughly 187 frost-free days, Gays places 22,614 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within IL, it ranks 801 of 1,548.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 61928: local microclimates, on what one yard in Gays can differ from the 61928 normal, and zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 6a and Gays's frost date answer different questions.