Fidelity, IL 62079 Frost Dates
62079, near Fidelity, 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 10/19, roughly 187 days after the last spring frost.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Fidelity 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
Fidelity'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.
Why 04/14 isn't a guarantee
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.
Fidelity against the rest of the dataset
About 187 days separate Fidelity's last and first frost, putting it 22,637 of 40,283 ZIP codes nationally. Within IL, it ranks 808 of 1,548.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 62079: the frost range, on how to read the range around Fidelity's dates instead of trusting one, and local microclimates, on what one yard in Fidelity can differ from the 62079 normal.