February is late winter in Illinois — still cold and often snowy, but the first cracks of spring appear by month's end. Great horned owls are already nesting, cardinals begin to sing, and the first waterfowl push north up the river flyways as the ice starts to loosen.
Week by week in February
January 29 – February 4
- On milder mornings, northern cardinals and Carolina wrens begin singing in earnest — the first audible turn toward spring.
- Set up the grow-light shelf and start the slowest seedlings — onions, leeks, and celery — for transplants you'll set out in spring.
- The reddish flower buds of silver and red maples begin to swell, the first trees anywhere in the state to stir.
February 5–11
- Bald eagles still gather below the river dams, but begin dispersing toward nest sites as the ice starts to loosen.
- Orion rides high in the south, anchoring the Winter Hexagon, with the faint Beehive Cluster in Cancer rising in the east.
- Storage crops and cold-stored Illinois apples carry the indoor winter markets through late winter.
February 12–18
- Maple sugaring season begins as cold nights and mild days start the sap rising in sugar and silver maples.
- Canada geese and mallards push north along the river flyways as open water spreads, the first stirrings of waterfowl migration.
- Start peppers, eggplant, and early brassicas indoors, and finish pruning dormant fruit trees on a dry, mild day.
February 19–25
- Skunk cabbage generates its own heat to melt the snow around it in wet woods, the first wild plant to emerge in the state.
- Listen late in the month for the first northbound sandhill cranes, their bugling carrying far ahead of the flocks.
- With no major shower this month, February rewards steady viewing of the bright winter constellations and the Orion Nebula by telescope.
Birds This Month
February is a turning point. Bald eagles still concentrate at the open water below the river dams early in the month, but they begin to disperse and return to nests as the ice breaks up. Great horned owls are already on eggs — the earliest nesters in the state — and on still nights you can hear their deep hooting from woodlots and forest preserves. By late February, northern cardinals, black-capped chickadees, and tufted titmice begin singing in earnest, the first audible turn toward spring.
The big movement is waterfowl. As open water spreads, Canada geese, mallards, northern pintail, common and hooded mergansers, and rafts of diving ducks push north along the Mississippi and Illinois flyways, staging at Emiquon and the river backwaters. Watch the skies late in the month for the first northbound sandhill cranes, their bugling calls carrying far ahead of the flocks. Keep feeders stocked — late-winter cold snaps still bring birds in hard.
What's Blooming
The very first blooms of the Illinois year appear in February, though you have to look hard. In sheltered, sun-warmed spots — especially in the milder far south and in city gardens — snowdrops and winter aconite push up through the last snow, and witch hazel's spidery yellow flowers open on warm days. The native skunk cabbage is the true wild pioneer: in seeps and wet woods it generates its own heat, melting the surrounding snow and unfurling its mottled hood weeks before anything else stirs. Out on the prairie nothing has yet broken dormancy — the tan grasses and seed heads of compass plant and coneflower still stand bleached against the snow. Indoors, this is the heart of seed-starting and forced-bulb season as gardeners get a jump on the long spring ahead.
Garden This Month
February is the indoor-start month for Illinois gardeners. Set up the grow-light shelf and sow the slow crops that need a long head start — onions, leeks, celery, and later in the month peppers, eggplant, and early brassicas — so transplants are ready when the soil warms. Finish ordering any seeds and check that stored tubers and bulbs are still sound.
Outdoors, it is still pruning season: prune apples, pears, and other fruit trees while fully dormant on a dry, mild day, and finish any dormant oak pruning before warm weather brings out the beetles that spread oak wilt. Resist the urge to pull mulch off perennial beds or to walk on soggy, half-frozen soil — both do more harm than good this early. Late-winter freeze-thaw can heave shallow-rooted plants, so press any heaved crowns gently back down.
Zone 5b (Chicago metro & northern Illinois): still deep winter — start onions, leeks, and the slowest seedlings under grow lights late in the month, and keep snow and mulch protecting perennial crowns through the freeze-thaw weeks ahead.
Zone 6b (south-central Illinois): begin pruning dormant fruit trees on mild, dry days, and start onions and early brassicas indoors; the ground is still too cold and wet to work outdoors.
Zone 7a (far southern Illinois / 'Little Egypt'): the state's earliest gardens stir now — in a warm spell late in the month you can direct-sow the hardiest peas and spinach, and finish pruning fruit trees before the buds swell.
What's at the Farmers Market
Illinois markets are still in winter mode, and the offerings remain the storage harvest and the preserved pantry. Indoor winter markets and farm stands sell storage onions, garlic, potatoes, carrots, beets, parsnips, cabbage, and winter squash, all still keeping well from the fall, alongside cold-stored Illinois apples.
This is the tail end of the maple window in the north and a building one statewide — the first maple syrup of the new season may appear as the sap begins to run during the freeze-thaw days of late February. Collinsville-area horseradish is still at its sharp midwinter best. Look too for honey, eggs, jarred preserves, and the first cold-hardy greens from heated hoop houses. Keep storing roots somewhere cool, dark, and humid and squash somewhere cool and dry to carry them through to the spring harvest.
Night Sky This Month
February still offers long, dark Illinois nights and the brilliant winter sky, though the evenings are slowly lengthening. Orion rides high in the south, anchoring the great Winter Hexagon of bright stars — Sirius, Procyon, Pollux, Capella, Aldebaran, and Rigel — that sprawls across the southern half of the sky. The faint, hazy patch of the Beehive Cluster in Cancer rises in the east, best found with binoculars from a dark site.
There is no major meteor shower this month, so February is a sky for steady, clear-air viewing of the bright winter constellations and, with a telescope, the Orion Nebula glowing in the Hunter's sword. The dark skies of the Shawnee National Forest in the far south offer the best views, well away from the Chicago metro's glow.
The printable Illinois night-sky guide lists this year's exact planet positions and any close conjunctions for the month.
Butterflies & Pollinators
February is still too cold for butterflies across Illinois, but the season's first flight is no longer far off. The overwintering adults — mourning cloaks, eastern commas, and question marks — remain tucked behind bark, in woodpiles, and in leaf litter, their bodies loaded with natural antifreeze. On a rare, unseasonably warm and sunny day at the very end of the month, especially in the milder far south, a mourning cloak may briefly take wing over snow-patched ground, making it the first butterfly of the Illinois year. The state's monarchs are still wintering in the Mexican mountains, weeks from beginning their northward return. For gardeners, this is the planning window: a butterfly garden built on native milkweed and a long succession of prairie nectar plants is the single best thing you can do for the summer's butterflies.
What to plant for them is in the Illinois native plants guide
Trees This Month
Illinois's trees are still dormant in February, but the first stirrings of the new year begin underground and in the buds. This is maple sugaring season — the freeze-thaw cycle of cold nights and mild days starts the sap rising in sugar maples and silver maples, and tapped trees begin to run by late month. The reddish flower buds of silver maple and red maple swell visibly, often the first trees to bloom anywhere in the state.
The bare structure of the woods is still the main show: the great white and bur oaks, the shaggy bark of shagbark hickory, and the pale, mottled trunks of sycamores along the river bottoms. In the far south, the bald cypress of the Cache swamps still stand bare and gray. By the very end of February, the catkins of cottonwood and the swelling buds of silver maple hint that the long dormancy is ending.
The Illinois native plants guide covers what grows with them
Weather & Daylight
Across Illinois, a typical February day averages a high near 40°F and a low near 22°F, with about 2.1 inches of precipitation — statewide averages from the 1991–2020 U.S. climate normals.
Still firmly wintry with highs near 40F, though the edge softens slightly and afternoon light hints at a thaw ahead.
| Average high | 40°F |
|---|---|
| Average low | 22°F |
| Precipitation | 2.1 in |
| Sunrise (mid-month) | 6:50 CT |
| Sunset (mid-month) | 17:30 CT |
Figures are statewide averages over the 1991–2020 U.S. climate normals; local conditions vary with elevation and distance from the coast. Sunrise and sunset are computed for a midstate point on the 15th (CT).
Next month's version of this page, by email
One short note when Illinois's next month turns — what's arriving, blooming, and worth a night outside.
Go deeper with the Illinois guides
The complete Illinois birding, native-plant, and night-sky references — or the whole year, week by week, in one book.
Same month elsewhere: February in Indiana · February in Iowa · February in Kansas