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Maine · county maple atlas

Maple sugaring in Waldo County, Maine

Waldo County had 41 maple operations and 20,246 taps in the 2022 Census. Around Belfast, sap usually runs from March 4 to April 10. Here's the long-run pattern, 36 seasons of sap weather, and the outlook this week.
Too early to tapAbout 149 days until the usual start.
Sap starts
Mar 4
typical year
Season ends
Apr 10
about 5 weeks
Sap days / season
44.8
1991–2026 average
Taps, 2022
20,246
#6 of 16 in ME

Sap-flow outlook at Belfast right now

Full Maine forecast →

Forecast for Belfast, ME

Updated Oct 6, 6:54 AM EDT

No freeze-thaw days in the forecast

freeze thaw 32°F

  1. WedOct 7
    34° / 58°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  2. ThuOct 8
    51° / 67°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  3. FriOct 9
    46° / 61°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  4. SatOct 10
    43° / 58°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  5. SunOct 11
    41° / 62°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  6. MonOct 12
    51° / 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 Belfast

Freeze-thaw weather at Belfast peaks in the weeks of Mar 2 to Apr 6, which hold about 41% of a season's sap days. March is the busiest month.
Typical season: Mar 4 – Apr 100246Week of Dec 1: 2.4 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 8: 2.5 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 15: 2.0 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 22: 1.8 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 29: 1.7 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 5: 1.1 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 12: 1.4 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 19: 1.1 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 26: 1.3 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 2: 1.4 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 9: 1.6 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 16: 2.2 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 23: 2.1 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 2: 2.5 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 9: 3.1 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 16: 3.1 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 23: 3.7 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 30: 3.2 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 6: 2.9 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 13: 1.9 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 20: 1.1 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 27: 0.7 sap days on averageWeek of May 4: 0.1 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 ~Mar 4
Average number of freeze-thaw sap days in each week of the season at Belfast, 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 13; the middle half of seasons fell between Mar 6 and Mar 17. Earliest Feb 23 (2010), latest Mar 24 (2015).
Closing signal
Median Apr 14; middle half between Apr 7 and Apr 17. Earliest Mar 26 (1998), latest Apr 23 (2018).
Sap days by month
Dec21%Jan13%Feb16%Mar30%Apr19%May0%

36 seasons of sap weather

Waldo County seasons, 1991–2026

The best sap year at Belfast was 2016 with 68 freeze-thaw days; the leanest was 1996 with 33. 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 9 – Apr 9, 39 sap days3920252025: Mar 13 – Apr 11, 37 sap days3720242024: Mar 6 – Apr 4, 36 sap days3620232023: Mar 8 – Apr 10, 61 sap days6120222022: Mar 5 – Apr 7, 49 sap days4920212021: Mar 6 – Apr 4, 41 sap days4120202020: Mar 11 – Apr 13, 59 sap days5920192019: Mar 18 – Apr 18, 46 sap days4620182018: Mar 19 – Apr 23, 59 sap days5920172017: Mar 12 – Apr 14, 43 sap days4320162016: Mar 6 – Apr 8, 68 sap days6820152015: Mar 24 – Apr 20, 33 sap days3320142014: Mar 20 – Apr 20, 36 sap days3620132013: Mar 15 – Apr 18, 56 sap days5620122012: Mar 1 – Apr 4, 53 sap days5320112011: Mar 17 – Apr 16, 36 sap days3620102010: Feb 23 – Mar 29, 38 sap days3820092009: Mar 14 – Apr 17, 40 sap days4020082008: Mar 16 – Apr 17, 42 sap days4220072007: Mar 17 – Apr 15, 46 sap days4620062006: Feb 26 – Mar 31, 37 sap days3720052005: Mar 12 – Apr 16, 40 sap days4020042004: Mar 16 – Apr 18, 50 sap days5020032003: Mar 20 – Apr 19, 35 sap days3520022002: Mar 9 – Apr 11, 52 sap days5220012001: Mar 20 – Apr 21, 43 sap days4320002000: Feb 27 – Apr 2, 40 sap days4019991999: Mar 3 – Apr 6, 53 sap days5319981998: Mar 3 – Mar 26, 34 sap days3419971997: Mar 19 – Apr 16, 48 sap days4819961996: Mar 15 – Apr 14, 33 sap days3319951995: Mar 13 – Apr 16, 43 sap days4319941994: Mar 14 – Apr 12, 40 sap days4019931993: Mar 13 – Apr 15, 38 sap days3819921992: Mar 18 – Apr 20, 48 sap days4819911991: Mar 3 – Apr 4, 59 sap days59
Each bar runs from the season's opening signal to its closing signal, estimated from daily temperatures at Belfast. Dashed lines mark the typical dates. The right column counts freeze-thaw sap days from December through May.

Maple production

Waldo County in the Census of Agriculture

USDA counts maple operations every five years. In Waldo County the 2022 Census found 41 farms making syrup (+28% since 2017), with taps +23% and syrup output +193% over the same five years. That works out to about 0.21 gallons of syrup per tap in 2022 (0.09 in 2017). Among the 385 counties in this atlas, Waldo County ranks 93 by taps.

Waldo County maple production, 2017 and 2022 (USDA Census of Agriculture)
Census yearFarmsTapsGallons of syrupGal / tap
20224120,2464,2310.21
20173216,4811,4450.09

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 Belfast (98ft), 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

Waldo County sugaring questions

When should I tap maple trees in Waldo County, Maine?
In a typical year the sap starts running around March 4 near Belfast and the season winds down around April 10. 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 23 and as late as Mar 24.
How much maple syrup does Waldo County produce?
The 2022 Census of Agriculture counted 41 maple operations in Waldo County with 20,246 taps producing 4,231 gallons of syrup, ranking 6 of 16 Maine's counties with published tap counts.
How many sap days does Waldo County get in a season?
On average 44.8 freeze-thaw sap days from December through May at Belfast, of which about 16.7 are textbook days with a night in the 20s and a day in the 40s. The best season since 1991 was 2016 (68 sap days); the leanest was 1996 (33).
Where do these dates come from?
From 36 seasons of daily high and low temperatures at Belfast (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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