Cerro Gordo, IL 61936 Frost Dates
Cerro Gordo, IL: when does the frost end?
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.
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 Cerro Gordo, not a forecast for this year.
Stretching the season past the first frost
With roughly 8 weeks until Cerro Gordo's first fall frost, a row cover or cold frame is what stretches the last few weeks of harvest here.
Why 04/16 isn't a guarantee
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.
Cerro Gordo against the rest of the dataset
At roughly 187 frost-free days, Cerro Gordo places 22,486 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within IL, it ranks 765 of 1,548.
Learn more
Before leaning on 61936's figures: the frost range explains how to read the range around Cerro Gordo's dates instead of trusting one, while local microclimates explains what one yard in Cerro Gordo can differ from the 61936 normal.