Willow Hill, IL 62480 Frost Dates
62480, near Willow Hill, IL: the frost window
Around 04/13 is the usual last spring frost, about 228 days away. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/22, roughly 190 days after the last spring frost.
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 Willow Hill, not a forecast for this year.
Stretching the season past the first frost
Willow Hill'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.
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 04/01 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 04/29 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Willow Hill against the rest of the dataset
Willow Hill's growing season runs about 190 days, ranking 21,328 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within IL, it ranks 551 of 1,548.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 62480: the frost range, on how to read the range around Willow Hill's dates instead of trusting one, and local microclimates, on what one yard in Willow Hill can differ from the 62480 normal.