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Maine · county maple atlas

Maple sugaring in Aroostook County, Maine

Aroostook County had 19 maple operations and 20,469 taps in the 2022 Census, number 5 in Maine. Around Houlton, sap usually runs from March 13 to April 21. Here's the long-run pattern, 36 seasons of sap weather, and the outlook this week.
Too early to tapAbout 158 days until the usual start.
Sap starts
Mar 13
typical year
Season ends
Apr 21
about 6 weeks
Sap days / season
36.4
1991–2026 average
Taps, 2022
20,469
#5 of 16 in ME

Sap-flow outlook at Houlton right now

Full Maine forecast →

Forecast for Houlton, ME

Updated Oct 6, 6:02 AM EDT

1 sap day in the next 6

freeze thaw 32°F

  1. WedOct 7
    29° / 54°

    4h below · 20h above

    Sap likely
  2. ThuOct 8
    42° / 65°

    0h below · 24h above

    Run tapering
  3. FriOct 9
    36° / 56°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  4. SatOct 10
    32° / 55°

    0h below · 22h above

    No refreeze forecast
  5. SunOct 11
    32° / 61°

    0h below · 20h above

    No refreeze forecast
  6. MonOct 12
    43° / 64°
    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 Houlton

Freeze-thaw weather at Houlton peaks in the weeks of Mar 9 to Apr 20, which hold about 56% of a season's sap days. April is the busiest month.
Typical season: Mar 13 – Apr 210246Week of Dec 1: 1.4 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 8: 1.1 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 15: 1.1 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 22: 0.9 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 29: 0.8 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 5: 0.4 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 12: 0.6 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 19: 0.5 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 26: 0.3 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 2: 0.7 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 9: 0.6 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 16: 1.1 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 23: 1.1 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 2: 1.7 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 9: 2.3 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 16: 2.5 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 23: 3.3 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 30: 3.4 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 6: 3.4 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 13: 3.0 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 20: 2.5 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 27: 1.8 sap days on averageWeek of May 4: 1.1 sap days on averageWeek of May 11: 0.6 sap days on averageWeek of May 18: 0.3 sap days on averageWeek of May 25: 0.1 sap days on averageDecJanFebMarAprMaytaps in ~Mar 13
Average number of freeze-thaw sap days in each week of the season at Houlton, 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 Mar 22; the middle half of seasons fell between Mar 20 and Mar 27. Earliest Mar 2 (2010), latest Apr 1 (1997).
Closing signal
Median Apr 25; middle half between Apr 20 and Apr 29. Earliest Mar 29 (2010), latest May 2 (1995).
Sap days by month
Dec13%Jan6%Feb9%Mar30%Apr34%May7%

36 seasons of sap weather

Aroostook County seasons, 1991–2026

The best sap year at Houlton was 1999 with 51 freeze-thaw days; the leanest was 2003 with 24. 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: Mar 21 – Apr 22, 27 sap days2720252025: Mar 21 – Apr 24, 31 sap days3120242024: Mar 18 – Apr 19, 41 sap days4120232023: Mar 19 – Apr 21, 44 sap days4420222022: Mar 20 – Apr 24, 41 sap days4120212021: Mar 17 – Apr 11, 28 sap days2820202020: Mar 30 – Apr 30, 45 sap days4520192019: Mar 26 – Apr 18, 26 sap days2620182018: Mar 27 – Apr 23, 41 sap days4120172017: Mar 22 – Apr 25, 24 sap days2420162016: Mar 24 – Apr 28, 50 sap days5020152015: Mar 28 – May 1, 27 sap days2720142014: Mar 28 – Apr 30, 29 sap days2920132013: Mar 22 – Apr 26, 39 sap days3920122012: Mar 12 – Apr 15, 45 sap days4520112011: Mar 26 – Apr 25, 33 sap days3320102010: Mar 2 – Mar 29, 34 sap days3420092009: Mar 22 – Apr 20, 34 sap days3420082008: Mar 22 – Apr 26, 29 sap days2920072007: Mar 28 – Apr 26, 45 sap days4520062006: Mar 9 – Apr 12, 37 sap days3720052005: Mar 21 – Apr 22, 43 sap days4320042004: Mar 27 – Apr 30, 40 sap days4020032003: Mar 28 – May 1, 24 sap days2420022002: Mar 21 – Apr 25, 36 sap days3620012001: Mar 29 – Apr 30, 32 sap days3220002000: Mar 15 – Apr 19, 44 sap days4419991999: Mar 21 – Apr 24, 51 sap days5119981998: Mar 14 – Apr 16, 27 sap days2719971997: Apr 1 – Apr 30, 37 sap days3719961996: Mar 22 – Apr 26, 35 sap days3519951995: Mar 29 – May 2, 46 sap days4619941994: Mar 26 – Apr 29, 37 sap days3719931993: Mar 18 – Apr 20, 32 sap days3219921992: Mar 31 – Apr 29, 32 sap days3219911991: Mar 23 – Apr 26, 44 sap days44
Each bar runs from the season's opening signal to its closing signal, estimated from daily temperatures at Houlton. Dashed lines mark the typical dates. The right column counts freeze-thaw sap days from December through May.

Maple production

Aroostook County in the Census of Agriculture

USDA counts maple operations every five years. In Aroostook County the 2022 Census found 19 farms making syrup (-27% since 2017), with taps -31% and syrup output -6% over the same five years. That works out to about 0.22 gallons of syrup per tap in 2022 (0.16 in 2017). Among the 385 counties in this atlas, Aroostook County ranks 92 by taps.

Aroostook County maple production, 2017 and 2022 (USDA Census of Agriculture)
Census yearFarmsTapsGallons of syrupGal / tap
20221920,4694,5260.22
20172629,7854,8080.16

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 Houlton (420ft), 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 Maine's USDA record (12 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 — Maine, 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

Aroostook County sugaring questions

When should I tap maple trees in Aroostook County, Maine?
In a typical year the sap starts running around March 13 near Houlton and the season winds down around April 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 Mar 2 and as late as Apr 1.
How much maple syrup does Aroostook County produce?
The 2022 Census of Agriculture counted 19 maple operations in Aroostook County with 20,469 taps producing 4,526 gallons of syrup, ranking 5 of 16 Maine's counties with published tap counts.
How many sap days does Aroostook County get in a season?
On average 36.4 freeze-thaw sap days from December through May at Houlton, of which about 9.9 are textbook days with a night in the 20s and a day in the 40s. The best season since 1991 was 1999 (51 sap days); the leanest was 2003 (24).
Where do these dates come from?
From 36 seasons of daily high and low temperatures at Houlton (PRISM 4-km grid), scored with the same freeze-thaw rule as our live forecast, then calibrated against USDA's reported season dates for Maine. 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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