Pearl, IL 62361 Frost Dates
Pearl, IL: when does the frost end?
Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 04/13, roughly 228 days out. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/22, roughly 190 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 Pearl, not a forecast for this year.
Stretching the season past the first frost
With roughly 8 weeks until Pearl's first fall frost, a row cover or cold frame is what stretches the last few weeks of harvest here.
Why 04/13 isn't a guarantee
04/13 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 03/30 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 04/28 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Pearl against the rest of the dataset
About 190 days separate Pearl's last and first frost, putting it 21,341 of 40,283 ZIP codes nationally. Within IL, it ranks 558 of 1,548.
Learn more
Before leaning on 62361's figures: zone vs. frost date explains why Zone 6a and Pearl's frost date answer different questions, while the frost range explains how to read the range around Pearl's dates instead of trusting one.