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Maine · county maple atlas

Maple sugaring in Oxford County, Maine

Oxford County had 57 maple operations and 92,452 taps in the 2022 Census, number 2 in Maine. Around Paris, sap usually runs from March 6 to April 13. Here's the long-run pattern, 36 seasons of sap weather, and the outlook this week.
Too early to tapAbout 151 days until the usual start.
Sap starts
Mar 6
typical year
Season ends
Apr 13
about 5 weeks
Sap days / season
42.4
1991–2026 average
Taps, 2022
92,452
#2 of 16 in ME

Sap-flow outlook at Paris right now

Full Maine forecast →

Forecast for Paris, ME

Updated Oct 6, 6:54 AM EDT

1 sap day in the next 6

freeze thaw 32°F

  1. WedOct 7
    29° / 59°

    4h below · 19h above

    Sap likely
  2. ThuOct 8
    44° / 66°

    0h below · 24h above

    Run tapering
  3. FriOct 9
    41° / 59°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  4. SatOct 10
    39° / 58°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  5. SunOct 11
    37° / 64°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  6. MonOct 12
    46° / 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 Paris

Freeze-thaw weather at Paris peaks in the weeks of Mar 2 to Apr 13, which hold about 53% of a season's sap days. March is the busiest month.
Typical season: Mar 6 – Apr 130246Week of Dec 1: 2.1 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 8: 1.7 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 15: 1.5 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 22: 1.2 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 29: 1.1 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 5: 0.7 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 12: 1.1 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 19: 0.8 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 26: 0.8 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 2: 1.1 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 9: 1.3 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: 2.5 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 9: 3.2 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 16: 3.2 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 23: 3.8 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 30: 3.5 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 6: 3.5 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 13: 2.6 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 20: 1.6 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 27: 0.9 sap days on averageWeek of May 4: 0.3 sap days on averageWeek of May 11: 0.1 sap days on averageWeek of May 18: 0.1 sap days on averageWeek of May 25: 0.0 sap days on averageDecJanFebMarAprMaytaps in ~Mar 6
Average number of freeze-thaw sap days in each week of the season at Paris, 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 15; the middle half of seasons fell between Mar 10 and Mar 19. Earliest Feb 19 (2012), latest Mar 25 (2001).
Closing signal
Median Apr 17; middle half between Apr 11 and Apr 19. Earliest Mar 18 (2012), latest Apr 29 (2001).
Sap days by month
Dec17%Jan9%Feb15%Mar33%Apr26%May1%

36 seasons of sap weather

Oxford County seasons, 1991–2026

The best sap year at Paris was 2016 with 60 freeze-thaw days; the leanest was 2015 with 25. 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 12 – Apr 12, 39 sap days3920252025: Mar 15 – Apr 18, 31 sap days3120242024: Mar 9 – Apr 11, 49 sap days4920232023: Mar 10 – Apr 10, 57 sap days5720222022: Mar 8 – Apr 7, 40 sap days4020212021: Mar 6 – Apr 4, 29 sap days2920202020: Mar 15 – Apr 19, 50 sap days5020192019: Mar 19 – Apr 18, 31 sap days3120182018: Mar 22 – Apr 23, 53 sap days5320172017: Mar 12 – Apr 15, 37 sap days3720162016: Mar 13 – Apr 17, 60 sap days6020152015: Mar 24 – Apr 16, 25 sap days2520142014: Mar 21 – Apr 21, 31 sap days3120132013: Mar 17 – Apr 18, 49 sap days4920122012: Feb 19 – Mar 18, 42 sap days4220112011: Mar 21 – Apr 23, 37 sap days3720102010: Feb 27 – Mar 29, 38 sap days3820092009: Mar 18 – Apr 20, 42 sap days4220082008: Mar 19 – Apr 18, 40 sap days4020072007: Mar 18 – Apr 13, 44 sap days4420062006: Mar 6 – Apr 10, 44 sap days4420052005: Mar 15 – Apr 17, 42 sap days4220042004: Mar 19 – Apr 22, 46 sap days4620032003: Mar 21 – Apr 19, 37 sap days3720022002: Mar 13 – Apr 12, 48 sap days4820012001: Mar 25 – Apr 29, 42 sap days4220002000: Mar 5 – Apr 8, 56 sap days5619991999: Mar 14 – Apr 16, 54 sap days5419981998: Mar 5 – Apr 8, 40 sap days4019971997: Mar 23 – Apr 27, 42 sap days4219961996: Mar 18 – Apr 16, 34 sap days3419951995: Mar 16 – Apr 18, 46 sap days4619941994: Mar 16 – Apr 19, 39 sap days3919931993: Mar 15 – Apr 19, 34 sap days3419921992: Mar 22 – Apr 17, 45 sap days4519911991: Mar 8 – Apr 4, 52 sap days52
Each bar runs from the season's opening signal to its closing signal, estimated from daily temperatures at Paris. Dashed lines mark the typical dates. The right column counts freeze-thaw sap days from December through May.

Maple production

Oxford County in the Census of Agriculture

USDA counts maple operations every five years. In Oxford County the 2022 Census found 57 farms making syrup (+10% since 2017), with taps +58% and syrup output +143% over the same five years. That works out to about 0.44 gallons of syrup per tap in 2022 (0.29 in 2017). Among the 385 counties in this atlas, Oxford County ranks 32 by taps.

Oxford County maple production, 2017 and 2022 (USDA Census of Agriculture)
Census yearFarmsTapsGallons of syrupGal / tap
20225792,45240,9020.44
20175258,59216,8260.29

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 Paris (614ft), 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

Oxford County sugaring questions

When should I tap maple trees in Oxford County, Maine?
In a typical year the sap starts running around March 6 near Paris and the season winds down around April 13. 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 19 and as late as Mar 25.
How much maple syrup does Oxford County produce?
The 2022 Census of Agriculture counted 57 maple operations in Oxford County with 92,452 taps producing 40,902 gallons of syrup, ranking 2 of 16 Maine's counties with published tap counts.
How many sap days does Oxford County get in a season?
On average 42.4 freeze-thaw sap days from December through May at Paris, 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 2016 (60 sap days); the leanest was 2015 (25).
Where do these dates come from?
From 36 seasons of daily high and low temperatures at Paris (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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