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Kentucky · county maple atlas

Maple sugaring in Scott County, Kentucky

Scott County had 7 maple operations and 236 taps in the 2022 Census. Around Georgetown, sap usually runs from January 20 to February 21. Here's the long-run pattern, 36 seasons of sap weather, and the outlook this week.
Too early to tapAbout 106 days until the usual start.
Sap starts
Jan 20
weather estimate
Season ends
Feb 21
about 5 weeks
Sap days / season
44.2
1991–2026 average
Taps, 2022
236
#6 of 25 in KY

Sap-flow outlook at Georgetown right now

Full Kentucky forecast →

Forecast for Georgetown, KY

Updated Oct 6, 9:56 AM EDT

Off-season for now. Sap needs freezing nights, and none are in sight. Scott County's season usually opens around January 20, which is 106 days away.

No freeze-thaw days in the forecast

freeze thaw 32°F

  1. WedOct 7
    46° / 81°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  2. ThuOct 8
    54° / 80°

    0h below · 24h above

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

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  4. SatOct 10
    50° / 81°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  5. SunOct 11
    56° / 74°

    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 Georgetown

Freeze-thaw weather at Georgetown peaks in the weeks of Jan 5 to Mar 23, which hold about 68% 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 20 – Feb 210246Week of Dec 1: 2.5 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 8: 2.6 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 15: 2.5 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 22: 2.2 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 29: 1.8 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 5: 2.2 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 12: 2.1 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 19: 2.4 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 26: 3.1 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 2: 2.9 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 9: 2.9 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 16: 2.5 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 23: 2.9 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 2: 2.9 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 9: 2.4 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 16: 1.9 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 23: 1.9 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 30: 1.0 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 6: 0.9 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 13: 0.3 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 20
Average number of freeze-thaw sap days in each week of the season at Georgetown, 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 20; the middle half of seasons fell between Jan 14 and Jan 27. Earliest Jan 1 (2006), latest Feb 9 (2003).
Closing signal
Median Feb 21; middle half between Feb 9 and Mar 2. Earliest Jan 26 (2005), latest Mar 12 (2003).
Sap days by month
Dec24%Jan24%Feb26%Mar22%Apr5%May0%

36 seasons of sap weather

Scott County seasons, 1991–2026

The best sap year at Georgetown was 2004 with 59 freeze-thaw days; the leanest was 2010 with 32. 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, 36 sap days3620252025: Jan 27 – Mar 3, 49 sap days4920242024: Jan 8 – Feb 8, 47 sap days4720232023: Jan 7 – Jan 28, 43 sap days4320222022: Jan 29 – Mar 4, 47 sap days4720212021: Feb 3 – Mar 9, 50 sap days5020202020: Jan 6 – Jan 31, 44 sap days4420192019: Jan 22 – Feb 3, 43 sap days4320182018: Jan 19 – Feb 14, 46 sap days4620173820162016: Jan 20 – Feb 19, 37 sap days3720152015: Feb 8 – Mar 9, 36 sap days3620142014: Feb 4 – Mar 8, 43 sap days4320132013: Jan 19 – Feb 22, 52 sap days5220122012: Jan 4 – Jan 31, 52 sap days5220112011: Jan 24 – Feb 24, 33 sap days3320102010: Feb 6 – Mar 8, 32 sap days3220092009: Jan 29 – Mar 5, 37 sap days3720082008: Jan 12 – Feb 16, 42 sap days4220072007: Jan 22 – Feb 25, 44 sap days4420062006: Jan 1 – Jan 28, 53 sap days5320052005: Jan 22 – Jan 26, 43 sap days4320042004: Jan 27 – Mar 1, 59 sap days5920032003: Feb 9 – Mar 12, 35 sap days3520022002: Jan 9 – Feb 9, 51 sap days5120012001: Jan 21 – Feb 23, 47 sap days4720002000: Jan 14 – Feb 18, 35 sap days3519991999: Jan 8 – Jan 27, 48 sap days4819981998: Jan 14 – Jan 29, 38 sap days3819971997: Jan 15 – Feb 18, 43 sap days4319961996: Jan 21 – Feb 19, 45 sap days4519951995: Jan 20 – Feb 23, 45 sap days4519941994: Jan 29 – Mar 5, 41 sap days4119931993: Jan 17 – Feb 21, 50 sap days5019921992: Jan 15 – Feb 13, 58 sap days5819911991: Jan 17 – Feb 21, 48 sap days48
Each bar runs from the season's opening signal to its closing signal, estimated from daily temperatures at Georgetown. Dashed lines mark the typical dates. The right column counts freeze-thaw sap days from December through May.

Maple production

Scott County in the Census of Agriculture

USDA counts maple operations every five years. In Scott County the 2022 Census found 7 farms making syrup (+600% since 2017). That works out to about 0.07 gallons of syrup per tap in 2022. Among the 385 counties in this atlas, Scott County ranks 339 by taps.

Scott County maple production, 2017 and 2022 (USDA Census of Agriculture)
Census yearFarmsTapsGallons of syrupGal / tap
20227236160.07
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 Georgetown (833ft), 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

Scott County sugaring questions

When should I tap maple trees in Scott County, Kentucky?
In a typical year the sap starts running around January 20 near Georgetown and the season winds down around February 21. 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 9.
How much maple syrup does Scott County produce?
The 2022 Census of Agriculture counted 7 maple operations in Scott County with 236 taps producing 16 gallons of syrup, ranking 6 of 25 Kentucky's counties with published tap counts.
How many sap days does Scott County get in a season?
On average 44.2 freeze-thaw sap days from December through May at Georgetown, of which about 13.2 are textbook days with a night in the 20s and a day in the 40s. The best season since 1991 was 2004 (59 sap days); the leanest was 2010 (32).
Where do these dates come from?
From 36 seasons of daily high and low temperatures at Georgetown (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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