Buffalo, IL 62519 Frost Dates
Buffalo, IL: when does the frost end?
Around 04/20 is the usual last spring frost, about 235 days away. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/16, roughly 179 days after the last spring frost.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Buffalo in Zone 6a (-10 to -5°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
With roughly 7 weeks until Buffalo's first fall frost, a row cover or cold frame is what stretches the last few weeks of harvest here.
The actual range around Buffalo's last frost
04/20 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/05 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/04 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Buffalo against the rest of the dataset
Buffalo's growing season runs about 179 days, ranking 25,456 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within IL, it ranks 1,062 of 1,548.
Learn more
Before leaning on 62519's figures: local microclimates explains what one yard in Buffalo can differ from the 62519 normal, while zone vs. frost date explains why Zone 6a and Buffalo's frost date answer different questions.