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Connecticut · county maple atlas

Maple sugaring in Litchfield County, Connecticut

Litchfield County had 73 maple operations and 32,727 taps in the 2022 Census, the most of any county in Connecticut. Around Litchfield, sap usually runs from February 19 to April 1. Here's the long-run pattern, 36 seasons of sap weather, and the outlook this week.
Too early to tapAbout 136 days until the usual start.
Sap starts
Feb 19
typical year
Season ends
Apr 1
about 6 weeks
Sap days / season
49.8
1991–2026 average
Taps, 2022
32,727
#1 of 8 in CT

Sap-flow outlook at Litchfield right now

Full Connecticut forecast →

Forecast for Litchfield, CT

Updated Oct 6, 8:37 AM EDT

No freeze-thaw days in the forecast

freeze thaw 32°F

  1. WedOct 7
    36° / 62°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  2. ThuOct 8
    49° / 70°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  3. FriOct 9
    46° / 64°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  4. SatOct 10
    45° / 64°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  5. SunOct 11
    46° / 66°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  6. MonOct 12
    53° / 67°
    No refreeze forecast

Data: National Weather Service. Verdicts use freeze-thaw thresholds from maple field research; your woods may run a little differently.

When the sap runs

The sugaring calendar at Litchfield

Freeze-thaw weather at Litchfield peaks in the weeks of Mar 2 to Apr 6, which hold about 40% of a season's sap days. March is the busiest month.
Typical season: Feb 19 – Apr 10246Week of Dec 1: 2.8 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 8: 2.4 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 15: 2.0 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 22: 2.3 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 29: 1.8 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 5: 1.7 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 12: 1.8 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 19: 1.3 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 26: 1.8 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 2: 2.1 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 9: 2.1 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 16: 2.7 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 23: 2.3 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 2: 3.3 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 9: 3.3 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 16: 3.5 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 23: 3.9 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 30: 3.2 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 6: 2.7 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 13: 1.4 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 20: 0.8 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 27: 0.3 sap days on averageWeek of May 4: 0.2 sap days on averageWeek of May 11: 0.1 sap days on averageWeek of May 18: 0.1 sap days on averageWeek of May 25: 0.0 sap days on averageDecJanFebMarAprMaytaps in ~Feb 19
Average number of freeze-thaw sap days in each week of the season at Litchfield, 1991–2026. A sap day is an overnight low under 30.2 °F followed by an afternoon high over 37.4 °F. The shaded band is the typical season.

Year-to-year spread

Opening signal
Median Feb 28; the middle half of seasons fell between Feb 20 and Mar 7. Earliest Feb 9 (2024), latest Mar 15 (2015).
Closing signal
Median Apr 1; middle half between Mar 25 and Apr 10. Earliest Mar 13 (2012), latest Apr 14 (1993).
Sap days by month
Dec21%Jan15%Feb19%Mar31%Apr14%May1%

36 seasons of sap weather

Litchfield County seasons, 1991–2026

The best sap year at Litchfield was 2012 with 68 freeze-thaw days; the leanest was 2025 with 30. Seasons that start early tend to end early too: the trees run on the swing between freezing nights and mild days, and heat ends it.
JanFebMarAprMaysap days20262026: Feb 25 – Mar 30, 43 sap days4320252025: Feb 23 – Mar 28, 30 sap days3020242024: Feb 9 – Mar 13, 40 sap days4020232023: Feb 13 – Mar 20, 61 sap days6120222022: Feb 15 – Mar 15, 47 sap days4720212021: Feb 24 – Mar 31, 41 sap days4120202020: Feb 12 – Mar 19, 66 sap days6620192019: Mar 7 – Apr 11, 54 sap days5420182018: Mar 7 – Apr 11, 58 sap days5820172017: Feb 21 – Mar 25, 42 sap days4220162016: Feb 10 – Mar 14, 51 sap days5120152015: Mar 15 – Apr 12, 38 sap days3820142014: Mar 9 – Apr 10, 51 sap days5120132013: Mar 7 – Apr 7, 58 sap days5820122012: Feb 13 – Mar 13, 68 sap days6820112011: Mar 7 – Apr 10, 44 sap days4420102010: Feb 18 – Mar 25, 35 sap days3520092009: Mar 1 – Apr 1, 45 sap days4520082008: Mar 8 – Apr 10, 55 sap days5520072007: Feb 25 – Apr 1, 49 sap days4920062006: Feb 23 – Mar 30, 53 sap days5320052005: Mar 4 – Mar 31, 47 sap days4720042004: Mar 6 – Apr 9, 40 sap days4020032003: Mar 9 – Apr 10, 39 sap days3920022002: Feb 18 – Mar 25, 62 sap days6220012001: Mar 12 – Apr 6, 49 sap days4920002000: Feb 18 – Mar 25, 53 sap days5319991999: Feb 27 – Mar 27, 54 sap days5419981998: Feb 21 – Mar 26, 46 sap days4619971997: Mar 2 – Apr 3, 53 sap days5319961996: Mar 8 – Apr 11, 45 sap days4519951995: Feb 20 – Mar 27, 57 sap days5719941994: Mar 11 – Apr 12, 51 sap days5119931993: Mar 11 – Apr 14, 44 sap days4419921992: Mar 7 – Apr 10, 62 sap days6219911991: Feb 28 – Apr 4, 61 sap days61
Each bar runs from the season's opening signal to its closing signal, estimated from daily temperatures at Litchfield. Dashed lines mark the typical dates. The right column counts freeze-thaw sap days from December through May.

Maple production

Litchfield County in the Census of Agriculture

USDA counts maple operations every five years. In Litchfield County the 2022 Census found 73 farms making syrup (+28% since 2017), with taps +19% and syrup output -23% over the same five years. That works out to about 0.21 gallons of syrup per tap in 2022 (0.32 in 2017). Among the 385 counties in this atlas, Litchfield County ranks 73 by taps.

Litchfield County maple production, 2017 and 2022 (USDA Census of Agriculture)
Census yearFarmsTapsGallons of syrupGal / tap
20227332,7276,8160.21
20175727,6068,8140.32

Nearby

Neighboring maple counties

Distances are between reference towns; typical dates are each county's own estimate.

About these numbers

The season dates are estimated from 36 seasons of daily high and low temperatures for the PRISM 4-km grid cell at Litchfield (1,037ft), scored with the same freeze-thaw rule as our live forecast: a sap day is an overnight low under 30.2 °F followed by an afternoon high over 37.4 °F. Each season's closing signal is the last sap day before accumulated warmth reaches a threshold, and the opening signal sits five weeks before that, never earlier than the first real freeze-thaw week. Tested against 117 state-seasons of USDA-reported dates, the rule lands within 5.5 days of the reported close and 6.6 days of the reported opening on average, and the typical dates shown here are scaled to Connecticut's USDA record (8 years). Production figures are copied from the Census as published. Full method, calibration tables and the downloadable dataset →

Sources · 6

  1. 1.2022 Census of Agriculture, County Level Data — Connecticut, Table 37: Maple Syrup, 2022 and 2017 · USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service
  2. 2.PRISM daily temperature grids (AN81d, 4 km), accessed 2026-10-05 · PRISM Group, Oregon State University, https://prism.oregonstate.edu
  3. 3.Applied Climate Information System (ACIS) web services · NOAA Regional Climate Centers
  4. 4.USDA NASS maple syrup reports — approximate average season opened and closed dates, 2011–2022 · USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service (mirrored by the University of Vermont)
  5. 5.Sap flow in sugar maple: timing and weather drivers (Frontiers in Agronomy, 2025) · de Lima Santos et al.
  6. 6.GeoNames gazetteer (cities500), CC BY 4.0 · GeoNames

FAQ

Litchfield County sugaring questions

When should I tap maple trees in Litchfield County, Connecticut?
In a typical year the sap starts running around February 19 near Litchfield and the season winds down around April 1. Have your taps in a day or two before the first forecast string of freezing nights and 40 °F days. In the past 36 seasons the weather signal came as early as Feb 9 and as late as Mar 15.
How much maple syrup does Litchfield County produce?
The 2022 Census of Agriculture counted 73 maple operations in Litchfield County with 32,727 taps producing 6,816 gallons of syrup, ranking 1 of 8 Connecticut's counties with published tap counts.
How many sap days does Litchfield County get in a season?
On average 49.8 freeze-thaw sap days from December through May at Litchfield, of which about 16.3 are textbook days with a night in the 20s and a day in the 40s. The best season since 1991 was 2012 (68 sap days); the leanest was 2025 (30).
Where do these dates come from?
From 36 seasons of daily high and low temperatures at Litchfield (PRISM 4-km grid), scored with the same freeze-thaw rule as our live forecast, then calibrated against USDA's reported season dates for Connecticut. They describe a typical year at one point in the county; your sugarbush, slope and elevation can shift them by days.

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