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Connecticut · county maple atlas

Maple sugaring in Windham County, Connecticut

Windham County had 22 maple operations and 16,240 taps in the 2022 Census, number 2 in Connecticut. Around Willimantic, sap usually runs from February 10 to March 25. Here's the long-run pattern, 36 seasons of sap weather, and the outlook this week.
Too early to tapAbout 127 days until the usual start.
Sap starts
Feb 10
typical year
Season ends
Mar 25
about 6 weeks
Sap days / season
53
1991–2026 average
Taps, 2022
16,240
#2 of 8 in CT

Sap-flow outlook at Willimantic right now

Full Connecticut forecast →

Forecast for Willimantic, CT

Updated Oct 6, 9:38 AM EDT

No freeze-thaw days in the forecast

freeze thaw 32°F

  1. WedOct 7
    32° / 66°

    0h below · 23h above

    No refreeze forecast
  2. ThuOct 8
    52° / 72°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  3. FriOct 9
    48° / 67°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  4. SatOct 10
    45° / 67°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  5. SunOct 11
    47° / 68°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  6. MonOct 12
    53° / 68°
    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 Willimantic

Freeze-thaw weather at Willimantic peaks in the weeks of Jan 26 to Mar 30, which hold about 54% of a season's sap days. March is the busiest month.
Typical season: Feb 10 – Mar 250246Week of Dec 1: 3.2 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 8: 3.0 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 15: 2.8 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 22: 2.7 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 29: 2.8 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 5: 2.4 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 12: 2.3 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 19: 1.9 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 26: 2.2 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 2: 2.6 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 9: 2.9 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 16: 3.1 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 23: 2.8 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 2: 3.0 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 9: 3.4 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 16: 3.5 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 23: 3.0 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 30: 2.3 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 6: 1.8 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 13: 0.8 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 20: 0.3 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 27: 0.1 sap days on averageWeek of May 4: 0.1 sap days on averageWeek of May 11: 0.0 sap days on averageWeek of May 18: 0.0 sap days on averageWeek of May 25: 0.0 sap days on averageDecJanFebMarAprMaytaps in ~Feb 10
Average number of freeze-thaw sap days in each week of the season at Willimantic, 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 19; the middle half of seasons fell between Feb 4 and Feb 26. Earliest Jan 15 (2023), latest Mar 11 (2015).
Closing signal
Median Mar 25; middle half between Mar 9 and Mar 31. Earliest Feb 19 (2023), latest Apr 6 (2015).
Sap days by month
Dec25%Jan19%Feb22%Mar26%Apr8%May0%

36 seasons of sap weather

Windham County seasons, 1991–2026

The best sap year at Willimantic was 2002 with 70 freeze-thaw days; the leanest was 2003 with 37. 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 19 – Mar 25, 53 sap days5320252025: Feb 12 – Mar 19, 47 sap days4720242024: Feb 4 – Mar 3, 46 sap days4620232023: Jan 15 – Feb 19, 67 sap days6720222022: Feb 12 – Mar 15, 53 sap days5320212021: Feb 19 – Mar 23, 46 sap days4620202020: Jan 29 – Mar 4, 55 sap days5520192019: Feb 24 – Mar 28, 56 sap days5620182018: Jan 25 – Feb 28, 54 sap days5420172017: Jan 24 – Feb 28, 51 sap days5120162016: Feb 4 – Mar 9, 51 sap days5120152015: Mar 11 – Apr 6, 38 sap days3820142014: Mar 4 – Apr 3, 47 sap days4720132013: Feb 25 – Mar 31, 58 sap days5820122012: Feb 6 – Mar 13, 67 sap days6720112011: Feb 28 – Apr 3, 46 sap days4620102010: Feb 11 – Mar 17, 39 sap days3920092009: Feb 24 – Mar 26, 50 sap days5020082008: Feb 19 – Mar 26, 66 sap days6620072007: Feb 20 – Mar 26, 50 sap days5020062006: Feb 7 – Mar 9, 56 sap days5620052005: Mar 1 – Mar 31, 59 sap days5920042004: Feb 27 – Apr 1, 48 sap days4820032003: Feb 27 – Apr 2, 37 sap days3720022002: Feb 2 – Mar 7, 70 sap days7020012001: Mar 6 – Apr 5, 50 sap days5020002000: Feb 4 – Mar 8, 49 sap days4919991999: Feb 20 – Mar 27, 64 sap days6419981998: Jan 28 – Mar 4, 57 sap days5719971997: Feb 22 – Mar 25, 57 sap days5719961996: Feb 24 – Mar 31, 47 sap days4719951995: Feb 10 – Mar 12, 59 sap days5919941994: Mar 3 – Apr 5, 48 sap days4819931993: Mar 4 – Apr 5, 51 sap days5119921992: Feb 22 – Mar 27, 56 sap days5619911991: Jan 31 – Mar 6, 61 sap days61
Each bar runs from the season's opening signal to its closing signal, estimated from daily temperatures at Willimantic. Dashed lines mark the typical dates. The right column counts freeze-thaw sap days from December through May.

Maple production

Windham County in the Census of Agriculture

USDA counts maple operations every five years. In Windham County the 2022 Census found 22 farms making syrup (-45% since 2017), with taps +29% and syrup output -5% over the same five years. That works out to about 0.16 gallons of syrup per tap in 2022 (0.21 in 2017). Among the 385 counties in this atlas, Windham County ranks 103 by taps.

Windham County maple production, 2017 and 2022 (USDA Census of Agriculture)
Census yearFarmsTapsGallons of syrupGal / tap
20222216,2402,5600.16
20174012,6192,6870.21

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 Willimantic (272ft), 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

Windham County sugaring questions

When should I tap maple trees in Windham County, Connecticut?
In a typical year the sap starts running around February 10 near Willimantic and the season winds down around March 25. 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 Jan 15 and as late as Mar 11.
How much maple syrup does Windham County produce?
The 2022 Census of Agriculture counted 22 maple operations in Windham County with 16,240 taps producing 2,560 gallons of syrup, ranking 2 of 8 Connecticut's counties with published tap counts.
How many sap days does Windham County get in a season?
On average 53 freeze-thaw sap days from December through May at Willimantic, of which about 19 are textbook days with a night in the 20s and a day in the 40s. The best season since 1991 was 2002 (70 sap days); the leanest was 2003 (37).
Where do these dates come from?
From 36 seasons of daily high and low temperatures at Willimantic (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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