Palmer, IL 62556 Frost Dates
Frost dates for Palmer, IL, ZIP 62556
Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 04/12, roughly 227 days out. The first fall frost typically arrives around 10/20, about 190 frost-free days later.
Palmer 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 Palmer 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
04/12 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Plant by 03/29 and you're betting against frost in roughly 9 years out of 10. 04/27 is the safer bet, historically only a 1-in-10 chance of frost that late.
How Palmer compares
At roughly 190 frost-free days, Palmer places 21,312 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within IL, it ranks 543 of 1,548.
Learn more
the frost range explains how to read the range around Palmer's dates instead of trusting one, and local microclimates explains what one yard in Palmer can differ from the 62556 normal.