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Michigan · county maple atlas

Maple sugaring in Cheboygan County, Michigan

Cheboygan County had 15 maple operations and 35,531 taps in the 2022 Census, number 4 in Michigan. Around Cheboygan, sap usually runs from March 16 to April 18. Here's the long-run pattern, 36 seasons of sap weather, and the outlook this week.
Too early to tapAbout 161 days until the usual start.
Sap starts
Mar 16
typical year
Season ends
Apr 18
about 5 weeks
Sap days / season
34.2
1991–2026 average
Taps, 2022
35,531
#4 of 66 in MI

Sap-flow outlook at Cheboygan right now

Full Michigan forecast →

Forecast for Cheboygan, MI

Updated Oct 6, 10:42 AM EDT

Off-season for now. Sap needs freezing nights, and none are in sight. Cheboygan County's season usually opens around March 16, which is 161 days away.

No freeze-thaw days in the forecast

freeze thaw 32°F

  1. WedOct 7
    55° / 64°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  2. ThuOct 8
    47° / 57°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  3. FriOct 9
    42° / 59°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  4. SatOct 10
    43° / 68°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  5. SunOct 11
    55° / 73°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  6. MonOct 12
    50° / 63°
    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 Cheboygan

Freeze-thaw weather at Cheboygan peaks in the weeks of Mar 9 to Apr 20, which hold about 54% of a season's sap days. March is the busiest month.
Typical season: Mar 16 – Apr 180246Week of Dec 1: 1.1 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 8: 1.3 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 15: 1.1 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 22: 1.0 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 29: 0.5 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 5: 0.7 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 12: 0.4 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 19: 0.4 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 26: 0.6 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 2: 0.9 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 9: 0.7 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 16: 1.3 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 23: 1.4 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 2: 1.8 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 9: 2.0 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 16: 2.7 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 23: 3.1 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 30: 3.2 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 6: 3.0 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 13: 2.5 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 20: 2.1 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 27: 1.4 sap days on averageWeek of May 4: 0.5 sap days on averageWeek of May 11: 0.4 sap days on averageWeek of May 18: 0.1 sap days on averageWeek of May 25: 0.1 sap days on averageDecJanFebMarAprMaytaps in ~Mar 16
Average number of freeze-thaw sap days in each week of the season at Cheboygan, 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 20; the middle half of seasons fell between Mar 14 and Mar 28. Earliest Feb 17 (2012), latest Apr 5 (1996).
Closing signal
Median Apr 21; middle half between Apr 14 and Apr 26. Earliest Mar 17 (2012), latest May 6 (2014).
Sap days by month
Dec14%Jan7%Feb12%Mar32%Apr32%May4%

36 seasons of sap weather

Cheboygan County seasons, 1991–2026

The best sap year at Cheboygan was 2020 with 52 freeze-thaw days; the leanest was 2015 with 20. 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 20 – Apr 21, 31 sap days3120252025: Mar 22 – Apr 20, 37 sap days3720242024: Mar 9 – Apr 8, 37 sap days3720232023: Mar 18 – Apr 21, 41 sap days4120222022: Mar 31 – Apr 30, 30 sap days3020212021: Mar 8 – Apr 5, 35 sap days3520202020: Mar 28 – Apr 28, 52 sap days5220192019: Mar 29 – Apr 29, 40 sap days4020182018: Apr 3 – Apr 30, 43 sap days4320172017: Mar 11 – Apr 14, 31 sap days3120162016: Mar 20 – Apr 24, 28 sap days2820152015: Mar 26 – Apr 26, 20 sap days2020142014: Apr 3 – May 6, 28 sap days2820132013: Mar 28 – Apr 26, 39 sap days3920122012: Feb 17 – Mar 17, 47 sap days4720112011: Mar 27 – Apr 25, 30 sap days3020102010: Feb 28 – Mar 30, 30 sap days3020092009: Mar 21 – Apr 23, 33 sap days3320082008: Mar 20 – Apr 16, 29 sap days2920072007: Mar 16 – Apr 17, 30 sap days3020062006: Mar 13 – Apr 10, 24 sap days2420052005: Mar 14 – Apr 15, 37 sap days3720042004: Mar 18 – Apr 16, 38 sap days3820032003: Mar 24 – Apr 26, 28 sap days2820022002: Mar 17 – Apr 13, 40 sap days4020012001: Mar 19 – Apr 19, 28 sap days2820002000: Feb 27 – Apr 2, 38 sap days3819991999: Mar 12 – Apr 13, 36 sap days3619981998: Mar 8 – Apr 11, 26 sap days2619971997: Mar 28 – Apr 26, 30 sap days3019961996: Apr 5 – May 4, 31 sap days3119951995: Mar 24 – Apr 28, 44 sap days4419941994: Mar 23 – Apr 23, 42 sap days4219931993: Mar 29 – Apr 27, 37 sap days3719921992: Mar 28 – Apr 29, 30 sap days3019911991: Mar 14 – Apr 18, 30 sap days30
Each bar runs from the season's opening signal to its closing signal, estimated from daily temperatures at Cheboygan. Dashed lines mark the typical dates. The right column counts freeze-thaw sap days from December through May.

Maple production

Cheboygan County in the Census of Agriculture

USDA counts maple operations every five years. In Cheboygan County the 2022 Census found 15 farms making syrup (-32% since 2017), with taps -19% and syrup output -26% over the same five years. That works out to about 0.34 gallons of syrup per tap in 2022 (0.36 in 2017). Among the 385 counties in this atlas, Cheboygan County ranks 69 by taps.

Cheboygan County maple production, 2017 and 2022 (USDA Census of Agriculture)
Census yearFarmsTapsGallons of syrupGal / tap
20221535,53111,9380.34
20172244,06916,0720.36

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 Cheboygan (577ft), 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 Michigan'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 — Michigan, 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

Cheboygan County sugaring questions

When should I tap maple trees in Cheboygan County, Michigan?
In a typical year the sap starts running around March 16 near Cheboygan and the season winds down around April 18. 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 17 and as late as Apr 5.
How much maple syrup does Cheboygan County produce?
The 2022 Census of Agriculture counted 15 maple operations in Cheboygan County with 35,531 taps producing 11,938 gallons of syrup, ranking 4 of 66 Michigan's counties with published tap counts.
How many sap days does Cheboygan County get in a season?
On average 34.2 freeze-thaw sap days from December through May at Cheboygan, of which about 13.4 are textbook days with a night in the 20s and a day in the 40s. The best season since 1991 was 2020 (52 sap days); the leanest was 2015 (20).
Where do these dates come from?
From 36 seasons of daily high and low temperatures at Cheboygan (PRISM 4-km grid), scored with the same freeze-thaw rule as our live forecast, then calibrated against USDA's reported season dates for Michigan. 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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