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Maine · county maple atlas

Maple sugaring in Cumberland County, Maine

Cumberland County had 36 maple operations and 18,526 taps in the 2022 Census. Around Portland, sap usually runs from February 20 to March 30. Here's the long-run pattern, 36 seasons of sap weather, and the outlook this week.
Too early to tapAbout 137 days until the usual start.
Sap starts
Feb 20
typical year
Season ends
Mar 30
about 5 weeks
Sap days / season
37.2
1991–2026 average
Taps, 2022
18,526
#7 of 16 in ME

Sap-flow outlook at Portland right now

Full Maine forecast →

Forecast for Portland, ME

Updated Oct 6, 6:54 AM EDT

No freeze-thaw days in the forecast

freeze thaw 32°F

  1. WedOct 7
    36° / 58°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  2. ThuOct 8
    54° / 65°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  3. FriOct 9
    50° / 61°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  4. SatOct 10
    46° / 61°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  5. SunOct 11
    46° / 63°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  6. MonOct 12
    54° / 67°
    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 Portland

Freeze-thaw weather at Portland peaks in the weeks of Jan 26 to Apr 6, which hold about 58% of a season's sap days. March is the busiest month.
Typical season: Feb 20 – Mar 300246Week of Dec 1: 2.2 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 8: 2.5 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 15: 1.9 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 22: 1.9 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 29: 1.8 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 5: 1.6 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 12: 1.3 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 19: 1.1 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 26: 1.5 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 2: 1.6 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 9: 1.8 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 16: 2.1 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 23: 1.8 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 2: 2.0 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: 2.5 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 30: 1.8 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 6: 1.7 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 13: 0.7 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 20: 0.3 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 ~Feb 20
Average number of freeze-thaw sap days in each week of the season at Portland, 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 1; the middle half of seasons fell between Feb 24 and Mar 10. Earliest Feb 10 (2016), latest Mar 18 (2001).
Closing signal
Median Apr 3; middle half between Mar 29 and Apr 10. Earliest Mar 9 (2016), latest Apr 20 (2001).
Sap days by month
Dec25%Jan17%Feb20%Mar27%Apr11%May0%

36 seasons of sap weather

Cumberland County seasons, 1991–2026

The best sap year at Portland was 2023 with 57 freeze-thaw days; the leanest was 2003 with 26. 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 1 – Mar 30, 34 sap days3420252025: Feb 28 – Apr 3, 34 sap days3420242024: Feb 21 – Mar 26, 30 sap days3020232023: Feb 23 – Mar 29, 57 sap days5720222022: Feb 24 – Mar 30, 33 sap days3320212021: Feb 25 – Mar 30, 38 sap days3820202020: Feb 12 – Mar 19, 40 sap days4020192019: Mar 10 – Apr 11, 39 sap days3920182018: Feb 28 – Apr 3, 42 sap days4220172017: Feb 27 – Mar 25, 41 sap days4120162016: Feb 10 – Mar 9, 38 sap days3820152015: Mar 14 – Apr 6, 27 sap days2720142014: Mar 10 – Apr 4, 26 sap days2620132013: Feb 27 – Apr 3, 37 sap days3720122012: Feb 14 – Mar 12, 39 sap days3920112011: Mar 8 – Apr 8, 33 sap days3320102010: Feb 13 – Mar 11, 31 sap days3120092009: Mar 9 – Apr 1, 37 sap days3720082008: Mar 14 – Apr 16, 39 sap days3920072007: Mar 7 – Apr 11, 42 sap days4220062006: Feb 24 – Mar 29, 34 sap days3420052005: Mar 10 – Apr 9, 38 sap days3820042004: Mar 12 – Apr 13, 40 sap days4020032003: Mar 12 – Apr 14, 26 sap days2620022002: Feb 28 – Mar 29, 47 sap days4720012001: Mar 18 – Apr 20, 32 sap days3220002000: Feb 22 – Mar 26, 30 sap days3019991999: Feb 27 – Mar 27, 46 sap days4619981998: Feb 23 – Mar 26, 42 sap days4219971997: Mar 13 – Apr 16, 44 sap days4419961996: Mar 9 – Apr 10, 33 sap days3319951995: Mar 7 – Apr 11, 37 sap days3719941994: Mar 13 – Apr 9, 30 sap days3019931993: Mar 13 – Apr 8, 28 sap days2819921992: Mar 11 – Apr 15, 47 sap days4719911991: Feb 27 – Apr 2, 47 sap days47
Each bar runs from the season's opening signal to its closing signal, estimated from daily temperatures at Portland. Dashed lines mark the typical dates. The right column counts freeze-thaw sap days from December through May.

Maple production

Cumberland County in the Census of Agriculture

USDA counts maple operations every five years. In Cumberland County the 2022 Census found 36 farms making syrup (-36% since 2017), with taps +45% and syrup output -7% over the same five years. That works out to about 0.12 gallons of syrup per tap in 2022 (0.19 in 2017). Among the 385 counties in this atlas, Cumberland County ranks 96 by taps.

Cumberland County maple production, 2017 and 2022 (USDA Census of Agriculture)
Census yearFarmsTapsGallons of syrupGal / tap
20223618,5262,2660.12
20175612,7392,4320.19

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 Portland (3ft), 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

Cumberland County sugaring questions

When should I tap maple trees in Cumberland County, Maine?
In a typical year the sap starts running around February 20 near Portland and the season winds down around March 30. 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 Feb 10 and as late as Mar 18.
How much maple syrup does Cumberland County produce?
The 2022 Census of Agriculture counted 36 maple operations in Cumberland County with 18,526 taps producing 2,266 gallons of syrup, ranking 7 of 16 Maine's counties with published tap counts.
How many sap days does Cumberland County get in a season?
On average 37.2 freeze-thaw sap days from December through May at Portland, of which about 16.6 are textbook days with a night in the 20s and a day in the 40s. The best season since 1991 was 2023 (57 sap days); the leanest was 2003 (26).
Where do these dates come from?
From 36 seasons of daily high and low temperatures at Portland (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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