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Maine · county maple atlas

Maple sugaring in Washington County, Maine

Washington County had 15 maple operations and 8,720 taps in the 2022 Census. Around Machias, sap usually runs from March 6 to April 11. 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 11
about 5 weeks
Sap days / season
46.8
1991–2026 average
Taps, 2022
8,720
#11 of 16 in ME

Sap-flow outlook at Machias right now

Full Maine forecast →

Forecast for Machias, ME

Updated Oct 6, 6:02 AM EDT

No freeze-thaw days in the forecast

freeze thaw 32°F

  1. WedOct 7
    35° / 56°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  2. ThuOct 8
    49° / 65°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  3. FriOct 9
    44° / 61°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  4. SatOct 10
    41° / 58°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  5. SunOct 11
    40° / 60°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  6. MonOct 12
    49° / 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 Machias

Freeze-thaw weather at Machias peaks in the weeks of Mar 2 to Apr 13, which hold about 45% of a season's sap days. March is the busiest month.
Typical season: Mar 6 – Apr 110246Week of Dec 1: 2.5 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 8: 2.6 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 15: 2.0 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 22: 1.7 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 29: 1.8 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 5: 1.3 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 12: 1.4 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 19: 1.3 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 26: 1.1 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 2: 1.1 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: 1.7 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 2: 2.3 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 9: 3.3 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 16: 3.3 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 23: 3.8 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 30: 3.1 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 6: 3.3 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 13: 2.3 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 20: 1.4 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 27: 1.1 sap days on averageWeek of May 4: 0.5 sap days on averageWeek of May 11: 0.2 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 Machias, 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 26 (2010), latest Mar 27 (1992).
Closing signal
Median Apr 15; middle half between Apr 9 and Apr 19. Earliest Mar 28 (2010), latest Apr 29 (1992).
Sap days by month
Dec21%Jan13%Feb14%Mar30%Apr21%May2%

36 seasons of sap weather

Washington County seasons, 1991–2026

The best sap year at Machias was 2012 with 69 freeze-thaw days; the leanest was 1998 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 11 – Apr 12, 47 sap days4720252025: Mar 16 – Apr 18, 41 sap days4120242024: Mar 9 – Apr 11, 42 sap days4220232023: Mar 11 – Apr 9, 58 sap days5820222022: Mar 7 – Apr 7, 53 sap days5320212021: Mar 6 – Apr 5, 34 sap days3420202020: Mar 11 – Apr 13, 53 sap days5320192019: Mar 18 – Apr 18, 34 sap days3420182018: Mar 19 – Apr 23, 53 sap days5320172017: Mar 10 – Apr 4, 41 sap days4120162016: Mar 10 – Apr 12, 54 sap days5420152015: Mar 26 – Apr 26, 39 sap days3920142014: Mar 20 – Apr 21, 55 sap days5520132013: Mar 15 – Apr 18, 65 sap days6520122012: Mar 6 – Apr 9, 69 sap days6920112011: Mar 18 – Apr 22, 35 sap days3520102010: Feb 26 – Mar 28, 45 sap days4520092009: Mar 19 – Apr 20, 49 sap days4920082008: Mar 16 – Apr 17, 46 sap days4620072007: Mar 19 – Apr 15, 54 sap days5420062006: Feb 28 – Mar 31, 47 sap days4720052005: Mar 14 – Apr 17, 48 sap days4820042004: Mar 21 – Apr 25, 47 sap days4720032003: Mar 24 – Apr 19, 37 sap days3720022002: Mar 10 – Apr 8, 47 sap days4720012001: Mar 22 – Apr 21, 39 sap days3920002000: Feb 28 – Apr 2, 52 sap days5219991999: Mar 6 – Apr 5, 45 sap days4519981998: Mar 4 – Apr 8, 33 sap days3319971997: Mar 24 – Apr 27, 48 sap days4819961996: Mar 18 – Apr 14, 39 sap days3919951995: Mar 19 – Apr 19, 48 sap days4819941994: Mar 12 – Apr 12, 46 sap days4619931993: Mar 15 – Apr 19, 40 sap days4019921992: Mar 27 – Apr 29, 45 sap days4519911991: Mar 14 – Apr 14, 57 sap days57
Each bar runs from the season's opening signal to its closing signal, estimated from daily temperatures at Machias. Dashed lines mark the typical dates. The right column counts freeze-thaw sap days from December through May.

Maple production

Washington County in the Census of Agriculture

USDA counts maple operations every five years. In Washington County the 2022 Census found 15 farms making syrup (+15% since 2017). That works out to about 0.10 gallons of syrup per tap in 2022. Among the 385 counties in this atlas, Washington County ranks 148 by taps.

Washington County maple production, 2017 and 2022 (USDA Census of Agriculture)
Census yearFarmsTapsGallons of syrupGal / tap
2022158,7208380.10
201713withheldwithheld—

“Withheld” means USDA suppressed the figure to avoid disclosing data for individual operations; the farm count is still published.

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 Machias (82ft), 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

Washington County sugaring questions

When should I tap maple trees in Washington County, Maine?
In a typical year the sap starts running around March 6 near Machias and the season winds down around April 11. 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 27.
How much maple syrup does Washington County produce?
The 2022 Census of Agriculture counted 15 maple operations in Washington County with 8,720 taps producing 838 gallons of syrup, ranking 11 of 16 Maine's counties with published tap counts.
How many sap days does Washington County get in a season?
On average 46.8 freeze-thaw sap days from December through May at Machias, of which about 16.5 are textbook days with a night in the 20s and a day in the 40s. The best season since 1991 was 2012 (69 sap days); the leanest was 1998 (33).
Where do these dates come from?
From 36 seasons of daily high and low temperatures at Machias (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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