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Maine · county maple atlas

Maple sugaring in Somerset County, Maine

Somerset County had 102 maple operations and 1,685,551 taps in the 2022 Census, the most of any county in Maine. Around Skowhegan, sap usually runs from March 7 to April 14. Here's the long-run pattern, 36 seasons of sap weather, and the outlook this week.
Too early to tapAbout 152 days until the usual start.
Sap starts
Mar 7
typical year
Season ends
Apr 14
about 5 weeks
Sap days / season
43
1991–2026 average
Taps, 2022
1.7 million
#1 of 16 in ME

Sap-flow outlook at Skowhegan right now

Full Maine forecast →

Forecast for Skowhegan, ME

Updated Oct 6, 6:54 AM EDT

1 sap day in the next 6

freeze thaw 32°F

  1. WedOct 7
    30° / 58°

    4h below · 20h above

    Sap likely
  2. ThuOct 8
    44° / 67°

    0h below · 24h above

    Run tapering
  3. FriOct 9
    40° / 61°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  4. SatOct 10
    38° / 59°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  5. SunOct 11
    37° / 65°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  6. MonOct 12
    46° / 68°
    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 Skowhegan

Freeze-thaw weather at Skowhegan 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 7 – Apr 140246Week of Dec 1: 2.2 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 8: 1.7 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 15: 1.6 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 22: 1.3 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 29: 1.1 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 5: 0.9 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 12: 1.0 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: 2.0 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 23: 1.8 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 2: 2.4 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 9: 3.3 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 16: 3.5 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 23: 3.8 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 30: 3.4 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 6: 3.6 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 13: 2.7 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: 0.2 sap days on averageWeek of May 11: 0.1 sap days on averageWeek of May 18: 0.0 sap days on averageWeek of May 25: 0.0 sap days on averageDecJanFebMarAprMaytaps in ~Mar 7
Average number of freeze-thaw sap days in each week of the season at Skowhegan, 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 16; the middle half of seasons fell between Mar 12 and Mar 19. Earliest Feb 26 (2010), latest Mar 24 (2001).
Closing signal
Median Apr 18; middle half between Apr 11 and Apr 20. Earliest Mar 26 (2000), latest Apr 27 (1997).
Sap days by month
Dec17%Jan9%Feb14%Mar33%Apr26%May1%

36 seasons of sap weather

Somerset County seasons, 1991–2026

The best sap year at Skowhegan was 2016 with 61 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, 44 sap days4420252025: Mar 17 – Apr 21, 32 sap days3220242024: Mar 10 – Apr 11, 51 sap days5120232023: Mar 12 – Apr 10, 61 sap days6120222022: Mar 9 – Apr 9, 45 sap days4520212021: Mar 7 – Apr 5, 32 sap days3220202020: Mar 17 – Apr 20, 52 sap days5220192019: Mar 18 – Apr 18, 36 sap days3620182018: Mar 21 – Apr 23, 53 sap days5320172017: Mar 12 – Apr 15, 38 sap days3820162016: Mar 13 – Apr 16, 61 sap days6120152015: Mar 24 – Apr 20, 25 sap days2520142014: Mar 21 – Apr 21, 32 sap days3220132013: Mar 15 – Apr 18, 52 sap days5220122012: Feb 28 – Apr 4, 47 sap days4720112011: Mar 21 – Apr 23, 41 sap days4120102010: Feb 26 – Mar 29, 45 sap days4520092009: Mar 18 – Apr 20, 41 sap days4120082008: Mar 19 – Apr 18, 40 sap days4020072007: Mar 20 – Apr 13, 47 sap days4720062006: Mar 6 – Apr 10, 39 sap days3920052005: Mar 15 – Apr 19, 43 sap days4320042004: Mar 19 – Apr 22, 46 sap days4620032003: Mar 21 – Apr 19, 32 sap days3220022002: Mar 13 – Apr 11, 41 sap days4120012001: Mar 24 – Apr 27, 38 sap days3820002000: Mar 5 – Mar 26, 48 sap days4819991999: Mar 12 – Apr 16, 54 sap days5419981998: Mar 6 – Apr 8, 35 sap days3519971997: Mar 23 – Apr 27, 48 sap days4819961996: Mar 19 – Apr 20, 36 sap days3619951995: Mar 19 – Apr 21, 45 sap days4519941994: Mar 17 – Apr 21, 40 sap days4019931993: Mar 15 – Apr 19, 31 sap days3119921992: Mar 23 – Apr 20, 42 sap days4219911991: Mar 13 – Apr 15, 56 sap days56
Each bar runs from the season's opening signal to its closing signal, estimated from daily temperatures at Skowhegan. Dashed lines mark the typical dates. The right column counts freeze-thaw sap days from December through May.

Maple production

Somerset County in the Census of Agriculture

USDA counts maple operations every five years. In Somerset County the 2022 Census found 102 farms making syrup (+7% since 2017), with taps +4% and syrup output -7% over the same five years. That works out to about 0.36 gallons of syrup per tap in 2022 (0.40 in 2017). Among the 385 counties in this atlas, Somerset County ranks 2 by taps.

Somerset County maple production, 2017 and 2022 (USDA Census of Agriculture)
Census yearFarmsTapsGallons of syrupGal / tap
20221021,685,551607,6990.36
2017951,628,423654,4980.40

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 Skowhegan (305ft), 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

Somerset County sugaring questions

When should I tap maple trees in Somerset County, Maine?
In a typical year the sap starts running around March 7 near Skowhegan and the season winds down around April 14. 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 26 and as late as Mar 24.
How much maple syrup does Somerset County produce?
The 2022 Census of Agriculture counted 102 maple operations in Somerset County with 1,685,551 taps producing 607,699 gallons of syrup, ranking 1 of 16 Maine's counties with published tap counts.
How many sap days does Somerset County get in a season?
On average 43 freeze-thaw sap days from December through May at Skowhegan, 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 2016 (61 sap days); the leanest was 2015 (25).
Where do these dates come from?
From 36 seasons of daily high and low temperatures at Skowhegan (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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