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Massachusetts · county maple atlas

Maple sugaring in Worcester County, Massachusetts

Worcester County had 54 maple operations and 16,113 taps in the 2022 Census, number 4 in Massachusetts. Around Worcester, 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
48.2
1991–2026 average
Taps, 2022
16,113
#4 of 8 in MA

Sap-flow outlook at Worcester right now

Full Massachusetts forecast →

Forecast for Worcester, MA

Updated Oct 6, 9:38 AM EDT

Off-season for now. Sap needs freezing nights, and none are in sight. Worcester County's season usually opens around February 20, which is 137 days away.

No freeze-thaw days in the forecast

freeze thaw 32°F

  1. WedOct 7
    39° / 63°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  2. ThuOct 8
    53° / 70°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  3. FriOct 9
    49° / 65°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  4. SatOct 10
    46° / 65°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  5. SunOct 11
    45° / 67°

    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 Worcester

Freeze-thaw weather at Worcester peaks in the weeks of Feb 2 to Mar 30, which hold about 52% of a season's sap days. March is the busiest month.
Typical season: Feb 20 – Mar 300246Week of Dec 1: 2.7 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 8: 2.9 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 15: 2.4 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 22: 2.4 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 29: 2.2 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 5: 2.0 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 12: 1.8 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 19: 1.6 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 26: 2.0 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 2: 2.1 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 9: 2.4 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 16: 3.2 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 23: 2.4 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 2: 2.9 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 9: 3.0 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 16: 3.4 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 23: 3.1 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 30: 2.4 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 6: 1.9 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 13: 0.9 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 20: 0.3 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 27: 0.1 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 ~Feb 20
Average number of freeze-thaw sap days in each week of the season at Worcester, 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 Feb 21; the middle half of seasons fell between Feb 14 and Mar 4. Earliest Feb 1 (2023), latest Mar 13 (2015).
Closing signal
Median Mar 26; middle half between Mar 16 and Apr 5. Earliest Mar 8 (2023), latest Apr 11 (2003).
Sap days by month
Dec24%Jan17%Feb21%Mar28%Apr10%May0%

36 seasons of sap weather

Worcester County seasons, 1991–2026

The best sap year at Worcester was 2012 with 62 freeze-thaw days; the leanest was 2025 with 30. 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: Feb 20 – Mar 25, 45 sap days4520252025: Feb 14 – Mar 10, 30 sap days3020242024: Feb 8 – Mar 13, 42 sap days4220232023: Feb 1 – Mar 8, 56 sap days5620222022: Feb 13 – Mar 14, 43 sap days4320212021: Feb 20 – Mar 21, 50 sap days5020202020: Feb 4 – Mar 9, 53 sap days5320192019: Mar 2 – Apr 5, 51 sap days5120182018: Feb 17 – Mar 23, 50 sap days5020172017: Feb 13 – Mar 20, 50 sap days5020162016: Feb 7 – Mar 13, 50 sap days5020152015: Mar 13 – Apr 6, 38 sap days3820142014: Mar 7 – Apr 10, 46 sap days4620132013: Mar 4 – Apr 7, 52 sap days5220122012: Feb 11 – Mar 12, 62 sap days6220112011: Mar 5 – Apr 9, 37 sap days3720102010: Feb 15 – Mar 10, 34 sap days3420092009: Feb 28 – Mar 26, 40 sap days4020082008: Mar 4 – Apr 5, 54 sap days5420072007: Feb 21 – Mar 26, 50 sap days5020062006: Feb 18 – Mar 25, 48 sap days4820052005: Mar 2 – Mar 27, 51 sap days5120042004: Mar 5 – Apr 8, 44 sap days4420032003: Mar 9 – Apr 11, 39 sap days3920022002: Feb 9 – Mar 13, 58 sap days5820012001: Mar 11 – Apr 5, 45 sap days4520002000: Feb 9 – Mar 16, 45 sap days4519991999: Feb 22 – Mar 27, 60 sap days6019981998: Feb 20 – Mar 26, 51 sap days5119971997: Feb 28 – Apr 3, 53 sap days5319961996: Mar 1 – Apr 5, 42 sap days4219951995: Feb 16 – Mar 20, 55 sap days5519941994: Mar 5 – Apr 9, 46 sap days4619931993: Mar 10 – Apr 8, 46 sap days4619921992: Mar 5 – Apr 6, 58 sap days5819911991: Feb 20 – Mar 21, 60 sap days60
Each bar runs from the season's opening signal to its closing signal, estimated from daily temperatures at Worcester. Dashed lines mark the typical dates. The right column counts freeze-thaw sap days from December through May.

Maple production

Worcester County in the Census of Agriculture

USDA counts maple operations every five years. In Worcester County the 2022 Census found 54 farms making syrup (+35% since 2017), with taps +28% and syrup output +8% over the same five years. That works out to about 0.17 gallons of syrup per tap in 2022 (0.20 in 2017). Among the 385 counties in this atlas, Worcester County ranks 104 by taps.

Worcester County maple production, 2017 and 2022 (USDA Census of Agriculture)
Census yearFarmsTapsGallons of syrupGal / tap
20225416,1132,7050.17
20174012,6332,5100.20

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 Worcester (531ft), 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 Massachusetts' USDA record (8 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 — Massachusetts, 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

Worcester County sugaring questions

When should I tap maple trees in Worcester County, Massachusetts?
In a typical year the sap starts running around February 20 near Worcester 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 1 and as late as Mar 13.
How much maple syrup does Worcester County produce?
The 2022 Census of Agriculture counted 54 maple operations in Worcester County with 16,113 taps producing 2,705 gallons of syrup, ranking 4 of 8 Massachusetts' counties with published tap counts.
How many sap days does Worcester County get in a season?
On average 48.2 freeze-thaw sap days from December through May at Worcester, of which about 17.3 are textbook days with a night in the 20s and a day in the 40s. The best season since 1991 was 2012 (62 sap days); the leanest was 2025 (30).
Where do these dates come from?
From 36 seasons of daily high and low temperatures at Worcester (PRISM 4-km grid), scored with the same freeze-thaw rule as our live forecast, then calibrated against USDA's reported season dates for Massachusetts. 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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