Golden, IL 62339 Frost Dates
62339, near Golden, IL: the frost window
The last spring frost here typically falls around 04/18, about 233 days from today. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/21, 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 Golden, not a forecast for this year.
Stretching the season past the first frost
Golden'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
04/18 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 05/01 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Golden against the rest of the dataset
Golden's growing season runs about 187 days, ranking 22,537 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within IL, it ranks 781 of 1,548.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 62339: local microclimates, on what one yard in Golden can differ from the 62339 normal, and zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 6a and Golden's frost date answer different questions.