Frost Dates: First and last frost dates for Chicago Ohare Ap, IL

How to read these charts for the fall
As your growing season comes to an end, the nightly temperatures for Chicago Ohare Ap, IL start to go down, and therefore every day that goes by increases the chance that you'll get frost. Your risk of frost really begins around September 28, and by October 23 you're almost certain to have received at least one frost event.

The charts on this page show the probabilities of receiving a certain temperature on a certain day. Some examples that might help:

  1. You have a small 20% chance of getting 32° by October 3.
  2. There is a 50% chance of being hit by a 32° frost starting around October 13
  3. You have a 80% chance of seeing 32° by October 23
  4. Said another way, you have a 1 in 5 chance at making it to that day without a 32° night.
In the Fall
Temperature 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90%
First 16° Nov 11 Nov 17 Nov 21 Nov 24 Nov 27 Nov 30 Dec 3 Dec 7 Dec 12
First 20° Nov 1 Nov 7 Nov 11 Nov 15 Nov 18 Nov 21 Nov 25 Nov 29 Dec 4
First 24° Oct 24 Oct 29 Nov 2 Nov 6 Nov 9 Nov 12 Nov 16 Nov 20 Nov 25
First 28° Oct 8 Oct 14 Oct 19 Oct 23 Oct 26 Oct 30 Nov 3 Nov 7 Nov 14
First 32° Sep 28 Oct 3 Oct 7 Oct 10 Oct 13 Oct 16 Oct 19 Oct 23 Oct 28
First 36° Sep 21 Sep 26 Sep 29 Oct 2 Oct 4 Oct 7 Oct 10 Oct 13 Oct 17

How to read these charts for the spring
As the growing season approaches, the days get longer, the weather begins to warm up, and the nights start being less cold. You're still getting frost, but the chance of nightly frosts gets less and less with each passing day. Eventually, the frost stops, and this is when your tender plants are fully safe. So, how do you plan for this? The probabilities on this page help you assess your risk of frost on any given day.

What's a safe temperature for tender plants? When the nightly temperature falls, frost can form, even above 32°, because the air is colder high above the ground and the frost can form up there and then fall down onto your garden and do some damage, even if it's 36° on the ground. So many factors come into play, including wind, concrete, houses, trees and other structures, etc etc etc. Because of all this, you might want to consider 36° as "the danger zone".

In your average springtime, you have a 90% chance that there will be no 36° nights by May 26. In other words, you can pretty much count on being safe from frost by that day. But we want to get those tomatoes in the ground as soon as possible, right? We see that there's still an 80% chance of 36° on April 29, so we don't dare plant that early. We wait a few days and by May 10 we are at the 50/50 point. At this point, we are close and we can start watching the weather forecast. If the upcoming week's forecast doesn't show below 40°, then it's probably okay to risk planting out your plants.

In the Spring
Temperature 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90%
Last 16° Mar 31 Mar 24 Mar 19 Mar 14 Mar 10 Mar 6 Mar 2 Feb 25 Feb 17
Last 20° Apr 5 Mar 31 Mar 27 Mar 24 Mar 22 Mar 19 Mar 16 Mar 12 Mar 7
Last 24° Apr 15 Apr 11 Apr 8 Apr 6 Apr 3 Apr 1 Mar 29 Mar 26 Mar 22
Last 28° Apr 24 Apr 20 Apr 17 Apr 14 Apr 12 Apr 10 Apr 7 Apr 4 Mar 31
Last 32° May 10 May 5 May 1 Apr 28 Apr 25 Apr 22 Apr 19 Apr 15 Apr 10
Last 36° May 26 May 21 May 16 May 13 May 10 May 6 May 3 Apr 29 Apr 23

Data is provided by the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information.