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Indiana · county maple atlas

Maple sugaring in Lawrence County, Indiana

Lawrence County had 7 maple operations and 2,874 taps in the 2022 Census. Around Bedford, sap usually runs from January 23 to February 24. Here's the long-run pattern, 36 seasons of sap weather, and the outlook this week.
Too early to tapAbout 109 days until the usual start.
Sap starts
Jan 23
typical year
Season ends
Feb 24
about 5 weeks
Sap days / season
47
1991–2026 average
Taps, 2022
2,874
#10 of 42 in IN

Sap-flow outlook at Bedford right now

Full Indiana forecast →

Forecast for Bedford, IN

Updated Oct 6, 10:45 AM EDT

Off-season for now. Sap needs freezing nights, and none are in sight. Lawrence County's season usually opens around January 23, which is 109 days away.

No freeze-thaw days in the forecast

freeze thaw 32°F

  1. WedOct 7
    46° / 82°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  2. ThuOct 8
    53° / 77°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  3. FriOct 9
    47° / 76°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  4. SatOct 10
    49° / 80°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  5. SunOct 11
    55° / 72°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  6. MonOct 12
    55° / 78°
    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 Bedford

Freeze-thaw weather at Bedford peaks in the weeks of Jan 5 to Mar 23, which hold about 66% of a season's sap days. February is the busiest month.
Typical season: Jan 23 – Feb 240246Week of Dec 1: 2.7 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 8: 2.6 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 15: 2.8 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 22: 2.3 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 29: 1.9 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 5: 2.2 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 12: 2.2 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 19: 2.2 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 26: 2.7 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 2: 2.7 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 9: 2.8 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 16: 2.7 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 23: 3.3 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 2: 3.4 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 9: 2.8 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 16: 2.4 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 23: 2.2 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 30: 1.8 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 6: 1.1 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 13: 0.4 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 20: 0.2 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 27: 0.0 sap days on averageWeek of May 4: 0.0 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 ~Jan 23
Average number of freeze-thaw sap days in each week of the season at Bedford, 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 Jan 27; the middle half of seasons fell between Jan 19 and Feb 3. Earliest Jan 1 (2006), latest Feb 19 (1993).
Closing signal
Median Mar 1; middle half between Feb 17 and Mar 9. Earliest Jan 28 (2006), latest Mar 21 (2014).
Sap days by month
Dec24%Jan21%Feb25%Mar25%Apr6%May0%

36 seasons of sap weather

Lawrence County seasons, 1991–2026

The best sap year at Bedford was 1992 with 62 freeze-thaw days; the leanest was 2010 with 28. 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: Jan 23 – Feb 27, 34 sap days3420252025: Feb 3 – Mar 10, 39 sap days3920242024: Jan 9 – Feb 13, 44 sap days4420232023: Jan 7 – Feb 7, 44 sap days4420222022: Jan 31 – Mar 5, 50 sap days5020212021: Feb 4 – Mar 9, 50 sap days5020202020: Jan 13 – Feb 17, 51 sap days5120192019: Feb 1 – Mar 8, 54 sap days5420182018: Jan 19 – Feb 19, 60 sap days6020172017: Jan 9 – Feb 7, 41 sap days4120162016: Jan 25 – Feb 28, 41 sap days4120152015: Feb 12 – Mar 19, 42 sap days4220142014: Feb 15 – Mar 21, 43 sap days4320132013: Feb 3 – Mar 9, 57 sap days5720122012: Jan 12 – Feb 8, 55 sap days5520112011: Jan 31 – Mar 3, 37 sap days3720102010: Feb 10 – Mar 8, 28 sap days2820092009: Jan 31 – Mar 5, 43 sap days4320082008: Jan 27 – Mar 1, 39 sap days3920072007: Feb 3 – Mar 10, 47 sap days4720062006: Jan 1 – Jan 28, 49 sap days4920052005: Jan 24 – Feb 6, 46 sap days4620042004: Jan 30 – Mar 1, 51 sap days5120032003: Feb 13 – Mar 15, 34 sap days3420022002: Jan 16 – Feb 19, 58 sap days5820012001: Feb 6 – Mar 11, 49 sap days4920002000: Jan 21 – Feb 22, 50 sap days5019991999: Jan 6 – Feb 10, 60 sap days6019981998: Jan 21 – Feb 15, 51 sap days5119971997: Jan 22 – Feb 26, 41 sap days4119961996: Jan 22 – Feb 19, 50 sap days5019951995: Jan 28 – Mar 4, 43 sap days4319941994: Feb 11 – Mar 18, 51 sap days5119931993: Feb 19 – Mar 20, 49 sap days4919921992: Jan 19 – Feb 17, 62 sap days6219911991: Jan 26 – Feb 28, 50 sap days50
Each bar runs from the season's opening signal to its closing signal, estimated from daily temperatures at Bedford. Dashed lines mark the typical dates. The right column counts freeze-thaw sap days from December through May.

Maple production

Lawrence County in the Census of Agriculture

USDA counts maple operations every five years. In Lawrence County the 2022 Census found 7 farms making syrup (+600% since 2017). Among the 385 counties in this atlas, Lawrence County ranks 230 by taps.

Lawrence County maple production, 2017 and 2022 (USDA Census of Agriculture)
Census yearFarmsTapsGallons of syrupGal / tap
202272,874withheld—
20171withheldwithheld—

“Withheld” means USDA suppressed the figure to avoid disclosing data for individual operations; the farm count is still published.

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 Bedford (633ft), 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 Indiana's USDA record (3 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 — Indiana, 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

Lawrence County sugaring questions

When should I tap maple trees in Lawrence County, Indiana?
In a typical year the sap starts running around January 23 near Bedford and the season winds down around February 24. 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 1 and as late as Feb 19.
How much maple syrup does Lawrence County produce?
The 2022 Census of Agriculture counted 7 maple operations in Lawrence County; USDA withheld the county's tap and gallon totals to avoid disclosing individual farms.
How many sap days does Lawrence County get in a season?
On average 47 freeze-thaw sap days from December through May at Bedford, of which about 13.8 are textbook days with a night in the 20s and a day in the 40s. The best season since 1991 was 1992 (62 sap days); the leanest was 2010 (28).
Where do these dates come from?
From 36 seasons of daily high and low temperatures at Bedford (PRISM 4-km grid), scored with the same freeze-thaw rule as our live forecast, then calibrated against USDA's reported season dates for Indiana. 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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