Elizabethtown, IL 62947 Frost Dates
62947, near Elizabethtown, IL: the frost window
The last spring frost here typically falls around 04/19, about 234 days from today. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/20, roughly 181 days after the last spring frost.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Elizabethtown in Zone 7a (0 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
Elizabethtown'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 04/19 isn't a guarantee
04/19 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/03 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/08 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Elizabethtown against the rest of the dataset
Elizabethtown's growing season runs about 181 days, ranking 24,724 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within IL, it ranks 944 of 1,548.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 62947: local microclimates, on what one yard in Elizabethtown can differ from the 62947 normal, and zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 7a and Elizabethtown's frost date answer different questions.