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Illinois · county maple atlas

Maple sugaring in Lake County, Illinois

Lake County had 8 maple operations and 107 taps in the 2022 Census, number 3 in Illinois. Around Waukegan, sap usually runs from February 26 to March 28. Here's the long-run pattern, 36 seasons of sap weather, and the outlook this week.
Too early to tapAbout 143 days until the usual start.
Sap starts
Feb 26
weather estimate
Season ends
Mar 28
about 4 weeks
Sap days / season
28.2
1991–2026 average
Taps, 2022
107
#3 of 26 in IL

Sap-flow outlook at Waukegan right now

Full Illinois forecast →

Forecast for Waukegan, IL

Updated Oct 6, 10:36 AM EDT

Off-season for now. Sap needs freezing nights, and none are in sight. Lake County's season usually opens around February 26, which is 143 days away.

No freeze-thaw days in the forecast

freeze thaw 32°F

  1. WedOct 7
    56° / 74°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  2. ThuOct 8
    49° / 66°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  3. FriOct 9
    47° / 68°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  4. SatOct 10
    54° / 72°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  5. SunOct 11
    59° / 74°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  6. MonOct 12
    58° / 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 Waukegan

Freeze-thaw weather at Waukegan peaks in the weeks of Jan 26 to Mar 30, which hold about 57% of a season's sap days. March is the busiest month. Note: USDA publishes no season dates for Illinois, so the typical dates here are the raw weather signal. In neighboring states with USDA records, producers reported their seasons running one to three weeks later than this rule.
Typical season: Feb 26 – Mar 280246Week of Dec 1: 1.4 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 8: 1.9 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 15: 1.6 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 22: 1.4 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 29: 1.2 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 5: 1.2 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 12: 1.0 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 19: 0.7 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 26: 1.2 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 2: 1.4 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 9: 1.4 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 16: 1.7 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 23: 1.7 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 2: 1.8 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 9: 1.9 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 16: 1.8 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 23: 1.9 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 30: 1.4 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 6: 0.8 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 13: 0.6 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 20: 0.2 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 26
Average number of freeze-thaw sap days in each week of the season at Waukegan, 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 26; the middle half of seasons fell between Feb 19 and Mar 6. Earliest Jan 30 (2017), latest Mar 21 (2008).
Closing signal
Median Mar 28; middle half between Mar 20 and Apr 3. Earliest Feb 27 (2016), latest Apr 22 (1993).
Sap days by month
Dec24%Jan16%Feb22%Mar29%Apr9%May0%

36 seasons of sap weather

Lake County seasons, 1991–2026

The best sap year at Waukegan was 2002 with 41 freeze-thaw days; the leanest was 2010 with 9. 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 9 – Mar 15, 29 sap days2920252025: Feb 18 – Mar 21, 26 sap days2620242024: Jan 30 – Mar 2, 29 sap days2920232023: Feb 20 – Mar 20, 38 sap days3820222022: Mar 1 – Apr 2, 35 sap days3520212021: Feb 19 – Mar 20, 29 sap days2920202020: Feb 22 – Mar 26, 32 sap days3220192019: Mar 3 – Apr 2, 36 sap days3620182018: Mar 8 – Apr 10, 36 sap days3620172017: Jan 30 – Mar 5, 24 sap days2420162016: Feb 10 – Feb 27, 23 sap days2320152015: Mar 7 – Apr 4, 12 sap days1220142014: Mar 14 – Apr 16, 21 sap days2120132013: Mar 11 – Apr 4, 29 sap days2920122012: Feb 8 – Mar 11, 33 sap days3320112011: Mar 6 – Apr 1, 16 sap days1620102010: Mar 6 – Mar 27, 9 sap days920092009: Feb 26 – Mar 31, 22 sap days2220082008: Mar 21 – Apr 3, 23 sap days2320072007: Feb 18 – Mar 21, 23 sap days2320062006: Feb 26 – Mar 29, 34 sap days3420052005: Mar 1 – Apr 3, 27 sap days2720042004: Feb 22 – Mar 24, 36 sap days3620032003: Feb 25 – Mar 31, 26 sap days2620022002: Feb 13 – Mar 12, 41 sap days4120012001: Mar 7 – Mar 29, 24 sap days2420002000: Mar 3 – Mar 5, 31 sap days3119991999: Feb 24 – Mar 27, 39 sap days3919981998: Feb 18 – Mar 24, 22 sap days2219971997: Feb 26 – Apr 1, 38 sap days3819961996: Mar 9 – Apr 11, 33 sap days3319951995: Feb 21 – Mar 25, 25 sap days2519941994: Mar 5 – Apr 7, 31 sap days3119931993: Mar 18 – Apr 22, 25 sap days2519921992: Mar 2 – Apr 6, 33 sap days3319911991: Feb 28 – Mar 16, 26 sap days26
Each bar runs from the season's opening signal to its closing signal, estimated from daily temperatures at Waukegan. Dashed lines mark the typical dates. The right column counts freeze-thaw sap days from December through May.

Maple production

Lake County in the Census of Agriculture

USDA counts maple operations every five years. In Lake County the 2022 Census found 8 farms making syrup, with taps null and syrup output null over the same five years. That works out to about 0.22 gallons of syrup per tap in 2022. Among the 385 counties in this atlas, Lake County ranks 362 by taps.

Lake County maple production, 2017 and 2022 (USDA Census of Agriculture)
Census yearFarmsTapsGallons of syrupGal / tap
20228107240.22
2017000—

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 Waukegan (656ft), 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. 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 — Illinois, 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

Lake County sugaring questions

When should I tap maple trees in Lake County, Illinois?
In a typical year the sap starts running around February 26 near Waukegan and the season winds down around March 28. 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 30 and as late as Mar 21.
How much maple syrup does Lake County produce?
The 2022 Census of Agriculture counted 8 maple operations in Lake County with 107 taps producing 24 gallons of syrup, ranking 3 of 26 Illinois' counties with published tap counts.
How many sap days does Lake County get in a season?
On average 28.2 freeze-thaw sap days from December through May at Waukegan, of which about 12.4 are textbook days with a night in the 20s and a day in the 40s. The best season since 1991 was 2002 (41 sap days); the leanest was 2010 (9).
Where do these dates come from?
From 36 seasons of daily high and low temperatures at Waukegan (PRISM 4-km grid), scored with the same freeze-thaw rule as our live forecast, then calibrated against USDA's reported season dates for Illinois. 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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