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Kentucky · county maple atlas

Maple sugaring in Henry County, Kentucky

Henry County had 5 maple operations and 360 taps in the 2022 Census, number 5 in Kentucky. Around New Castle, sap usually runs from January 22 to February 25. Here's the long-run pattern, 36 seasons of sap weather, and the outlook this week.
Too early to tapAbout 108 days until the usual start.
Sap starts
Jan 22
weather estimate
Season ends
Feb 25
about 5 weeks
Sap days / season
49.6
1991–2026 average
Taps, 2022
360
#5 of 25 in KY

Sap-flow outlook at New Castle right now

Full Kentucky forecast →

Forecast for New Castle, KY

Updated Oct 6, 9:56 AM EDT

Off-season for now. Sap needs freezing nights, and none are in sight. Henry County's season usually opens around January 22, which is 108 days away.

No freeze-thaw days in the forecast

freeze thaw 32°F

  1. WedOct 7
    47° / 81°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  2. ThuOct 8
    53° / 80°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  3. FriOct 9
    48° / 77°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  4. SatOct 10
    51° / 81°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  5. SunOct 11
    56° / 72°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  6. MonOct 12
    56° / 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 New Castle

Freeze-thaw weather at New Castle peaks in the weeks of Dec 1 to Mar 23, which hold about 94% of a season's sap days. February is the busiest month. Note: USDA publishes no season dates for Kentucky, 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: Jan 22 – Feb 250246Week of Dec 1: 2.9 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 8: 2.9 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: 2.1 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 5: 2.4 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 12: 2.2 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 19: 2.5 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 26: 3.2 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 2: 3.3 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 9: 3.2 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 16: 2.8 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: 2.2 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 23: 2.3 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 30: 1.5 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: 0.1 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 22
Average number of freeze-thaw sap days in each week of the season at New Castle, 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 22; the middle half of seasons fell between Jan 18 and Jan 30. Earliest Jan 1 (2006), latest Feb 13 (1993).
Closing signal
Median Feb 25; middle half between Feb 12 and Mar 5. Earliest Jan 28 (2006), latest Mar 20 (1993).
Sap days by month
Dec24%Jan22%Feb26%Mar23%Apr5%May0%

36 seasons of sap weather

Henry County seasons, 1991–2026

The best sap year at New Castle was 1992 with 70 freeze-thaw days; the leanest was 2010 with 34. 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 22 – Feb 25, 35 sap days3520252025: Jan 31 – Mar 7, 41 sap days4120242024: Jan 8 – Feb 8, 48 sap days4820232023: Jan 7 – Feb 5, 41 sap days4120222022: Jan 30 – Mar 5, 48 sap days4820212021: Feb 4 – Mar 9, 49 sap days4920202020: Jan 2 – Jan 31, 52 sap days5220192019: Jan 22 – Feb 11, 48 sap days4820182018: Jan 19 – Feb 19, 51 sap days5120174020162016: Jan 20 – Feb 19, 42 sap days4220152015: Feb 9 – Mar 9, 43 sap days4320142014: Feb 7 – Mar 14, 48 sap days4820132013: Jan 22 – Feb 26, 55 sap days5520122012: Jan 4 – Feb 7, 56 sap days5620112011: Jan 26 – Mar 2, 36 sap days3620102010: Feb 7 – Mar 8, 34 sap days3420092009: Jan 30 – Mar 5, 43 sap days4320082008: Jan 21 – Feb 25, 48 sap days4820072007: Jan 26 – Mar 1, 50 sap days5020062006: Jan 1 – Jan 28, 53 sap days5320052005: Jan 19 – Feb 5, 50 sap days5020042004: Jan 29 – Mar 1, 59 sap days5920032003: Feb 11 – Mar 15, 41 sap days4120022002: Jan 8 – Feb 12, 56 sap days5620012001: Jan 26 – Mar 2, 58 sap days5820002000: Jan 19 – Feb 22, 53 sap days5319991999: Jan 8 – Feb 6, 62 sap days6219981998: Jan 11 – Feb 7, 51 sap days5119971997: Jan 17 – Feb 18, 51 sap days5119961996: Jan 22 – Feb 19, 54 sap days5419951995: Jan 23 – Feb 25, 53 sap days5319941994: Feb 4 – Mar 11, 54 sap days5419931993: Feb 13 – Mar 20, 57 sap days5719921992: Jan 18 – Feb 17, 70 sap days7019911991: Jan 24 – Feb 28, 57 sap days57
Each bar runs from the season's opening signal to its closing signal, estimated from daily temperatures at New Castle. Dashed lines mark the typical dates. The right column counts freeze-thaw sap days from December through May.

Maple production

Henry County in the Census of Agriculture

USDA counts maple operations every five years. In Henry County the 2022 Census found 5 farms making syrup, with taps null and syrup output null over the same five years. That works out to about 0.20 gallons of syrup per tap in 2022. Among the 385 counties in this atlas, Henry County ranks 326 by taps.

Henry County maple production, 2017 and 2022 (USDA Census of Agriculture)
Census yearFarmsTapsGallons of syrupGal / tap
20225360720.20
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 New Castle (755ft), 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 — Kentucky, 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

Henry County sugaring questions

When should I tap maple trees in Henry County, Kentucky?
In a typical year the sap starts running around January 22 near New Castle and the season winds down around February 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 1 and as late as Feb 13.
How much maple syrup does Henry County produce?
The 2022 Census of Agriculture counted 5 maple operations in Henry County with 360 taps producing 72 gallons of syrup, ranking 5 of 25 Kentucky's counties with published tap counts.
How many sap days does Henry County get in a season?
On average 49.6 freeze-thaw sap days from December through May at New Castle, of which about 13.3 are textbook days with a night in the 20s and a day in the 40s. The best season since 1991 was 1992 (70 sap days); the leanest was 2010 (34).
Where do these dates come from?
From 36 seasons of daily high and low temperatures at New Castle (PRISM 4-km grid), scored with the same freeze-thaw rule as our live forecast, then calibrated against USDA's reported season dates for Kentucky. 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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