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Indiana · county maple atlas

Maple sugaring in Tippecanoe County, Indiana

Tippecanoe County had 6 maple operations and 648 taps in the 2022 Census. Around Lafayette, sap usually runs from February 5 to March 7. Here's the long-run pattern, 36 seasons of sap weather, and the outlook this week.
Too early to tapAbout 122 days until the usual start.
Sap starts
Feb 5
typical year
Season ends
Mar 7
about 4 weeks
Sap days / season
39.6
1991–2026 average
Taps, 2022
648
#20 of 42 in IN

Sap-flow outlook at Lafayette right now

Full Indiana forecast →

Forecast for Lafayette, IN

Updated Oct 6, 10:45 AM EDT

Off-season for now. Sap needs freezing nights, and none are in sight. Tippecanoe County's season usually opens around February 5, which is 122 days away.

No freeze-thaw days in the forecast

freeze thaw 32°F

  1. WedOct 7
    52° / 80°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  2. ThuOct 8
    51° / 73°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  3. FriOct 9
    46° / 74°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  4. SatOct 10
    52° / 82°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  5. SunOct 11
    58° / 80°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  6. MonOct 12
    57° / 82°
    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 Lafayette

Freeze-thaw weather at Lafayette peaks in the weeks of Jan 26 to Mar 30, which hold about 59% of a season's sap days. March is the busiest month.
Typical season: Feb 5 – Mar 70246Week of Dec 1: 2.1 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 8: 2.1 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 15: 2.2 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 22: 1.8 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 29: 1.6 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 5: 1.5 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 12: 1.4 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 19: 1.2 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 26: 1.7 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 2: 2.1 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 9: 2.3 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 16: 2.3 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 23: 2.5 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 2: 2.8 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 9: 2.6 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 16: 2.8 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 23: 2.4 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 30: 1.9 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 6: 1.4 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 13: 0.7 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 5
Average number of freeze-thaw sap days in each week of the season at Lafayette, 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 9; the middle half of seasons fell between Feb 1 and Feb 17. Earliest Jan 15 (2017), latest Mar 4 (2014).
Closing signal
Median Mar 12; middle half between Mar 5 and Mar 19. Earliest Feb 14 (1998), latest Apr 5 (2013).
Sap days by month
Dec23%Jan16%Feb23%Mar29%Apr9%May0%

36 seasons of sap weather

Tippecanoe County seasons, 1991–2026

The best sap year at Lafayette was 2018 with 61 freeze-thaw days; the leanest was 2010 with 18. 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 3, 34 sap days3420252025: Feb 7 – Mar 9, 36 sap days3620242024: Jan 30 – Feb 25, 43 sap days4320232023: Jan 19 – Feb 21, 46 sap days4620222022: Feb 12 – Mar 13, 37 sap days3720212021: Feb 7 – Mar 8, 37 sap days3720202020: Feb 4 – Mar 9, 41 sap days4120192019: Feb 21 – Mar 28, 49 sap days4920182018: Jan 27 – Mar 3, 61 sap days6120172017: Jan 15 – Feb 16, 36 sap days3620162016: Feb 4 – Mar 6, 34 sap days3420152015: Feb 26 – Mar 30, 31 sap days3120142014: Mar 4 – Mar 31, 32 sap days3220132013: Mar 1 – Apr 5, 48 sap days4820122012: Feb 1 – Mar 7, 49 sap days4920112011: Feb 13 – Mar 14, 31 sap days3120102010: Feb 28 – Mar 9, 18 sap days1820092009: Feb 8 – Mar 15, 39 sap days3920082008: Feb 14 – Mar 21, 38 sap days3820072007: Feb 14 – Mar 19, 38 sap days3820062006: Jan 19 – Feb 23, 45 sap days4520052005: Feb 11 – Mar 18, 37 sap days3720042004: Feb 17 – Mar 19, 40 sap days4020032003: Feb 19 – Mar 15, 31 sap days3120022002: Feb 1 – Mar 6, 51 sap days5120012001: Feb 25 – Mar 29, 38 sap days3820002000: Jan 27 – Mar 3, 44 sap days4419991999: Feb 10 – Mar 16, 42 sap days4219981998: Jan 26 – Feb 14, 34 sap days3419971997: Feb 2 – Mar 8, 40 sap days4019961996: Feb 9 – Mar 13, 48 sap days4819951995: Feb 6 – Mar 10, 43 sap days4319941994: Feb 17 – Mar 20, 31 sap days3119931993: Feb 24 – Mar 20, 38 sap days3819921992: Jan 27 – Mar 2, 46 sap days4619911991: Feb 13 – Mar 16, 38 sap days38
Each bar runs from the season's opening signal to its closing signal, estimated from daily temperatures at Lafayette. Dashed lines mark the typical dates. The right column counts freeze-thaw sap days from December through May.

Maple production

Tippecanoe County in the Census of Agriculture

USDA counts maple operations every five years. In Tippecanoe County the 2022 Census found 6 farms making syrup, with taps null and syrup output null over the same five years. That works out to about 0.21 gallons of syrup per tap in 2022. Among the 385 counties in this atlas, Tippecanoe County ranks 302 by taps.

Tippecanoe County maple production, 2017 and 2022 (USDA Census of Agriculture)
Census yearFarmsTapsGallons of syrupGal / tap
202266481380.21
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 Lafayette (666ft), 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

Tippecanoe County sugaring questions

When should I tap maple trees in Tippecanoe County, Indiana?
In a typical year the sap starts running around February 5 near Lafayette and the season winds down around March 7. 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 4.
How much maple syrup does Tippecanoe County produce?
The 2022 Census of Agriculture counted 6 maple operations in Tippecanoe County with 648 taps producing 138 gallons of syrup, ranking 20 of 42 Indiana's counties with published tap counts.
How many sap days does Tippecanoe County get in a season?
On average 39.6 freeze-thaw sap days from December through May at Lafayette, of which about 14.2 are textbook days with a night in the 20s and a day in the 40s. The best season since 1991 was 2018 (61 sap days); the leanest was 2010 (18).
Where do these dates come from?
From 36 seasons of daily high and low temperatures at Lafayette (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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