Panama, IL 62077 Frost Dates
62077, near Panama, IL: the frost window
Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 04/14, roughly 229 days out. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/21, roughly 188 days after the last spring frost.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Panama in Zone 6b (-5 to 0°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
Panama'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
04/14 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 03/31 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.
Panama against the rest of the dataset
At roughly 188 frost-free days, Panama places 22,185 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within IL, it ranks 704 of 1,548.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 62077: local microclimates, on what one yard in Panama can differ from the 62077 normal, and zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 6b and Panama's frost date answer different questions.