Marion, IL 62959 Frost Dates
When can you plant in Marion, IL?
Around 04/09 is the usual last spring frost, about 224 days away. The first fall frost typically arrives around 10/22, about 195 frost-free days later.
Zone 7a (0 to 5°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 Marion, not a forecast for this year.
What to do before the first frost
About 8 weeks of growing season left in Marion before the first fall frost — a cold frame or row cover can stretch harvest weeks past that date.
The actual range around Marion's last frost
04/09 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Plant by 03/25 and you're betting against frost in roughly 9 years out of 10. 04/25 is the safer bet, historically only a 1-in-10 chance of frost that late.
How Marion compares
At roughly 195 frost-free days, Marion places 19,213 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within IL, it ranks 333 of 1,548.
Learn more
zone vs. frost date covers why Zone 7a and Marion's frost date answer different questions. the frost range covers how to read the range around Marion's dates instead of trusting one.