Decatur, IL 62524 Frost Dates
Frost dates for Decatur, IL, ZIP 62524
Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 04/14, roughly 229 days out. The first fall frost typically arrives around 10/24, about 192 frost-free days later.
Decatur sits in USDA Zone 6a (-10 to -5°F average annual minimum). The dates above are NOAA's 1991-2020 normal at the nearest reporting station, a 30-year average, not a forecast.
What to do before the first frost
Zone 6a around Decatur has about 8 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.
How much risk comes with planting early here
04/14 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Plant by 04/01 and you're betting against frost in roughly 9 years out of 10. 05/01 is the safer bet, historically only a 1-in-10 chance of frost that late.
How Decatur compares
At roughly 192 frost-free days, Decatur places 20,143 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within IL, it ranks 418 of 1,548.
Learn more
local microclimates explains what one yard in Decatur can differ from the 62524 normal, and zone vs. frost date explains why Zone 6a and Decatur's frost date answer different questions.