West Salem, IL 62476 Frost Dates
Frost dates for West Salem, IL, ZIP 62476
Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 04/04, roughly 219 days out. The first fall frost typically arrives around 10/28, about 206 frost-free days later.
Zone 6b (-5 to 0°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 West Salem, not a forecast for this year.
What to do before the first frost
Zone 6b around West Salem has about 9 weeks left before the first fall frost — that's the usual window to get a cold frame up if you want to keep harvesting past it.
The actual range around West Salem's last frost
04/04 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Plant by 03/20 and you're betting against frost in roughly 9 years out of 10. 04/20 is the safer bet, historically only a 1-in-10 chance of frost that late.
How West Salem compares
West Salem's growing season runs about 206 days, ranking 16,077 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within IL, it ranks 95 of 1,548.
Learn more
zone vs. frost date explains why Zone 6b and West Salem's frost date answer different questions, and the frost range explains how to read the range around West Salem's dates instead of trusting one.