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Michigan · county maple atlas

Maple sugaring in Chippewa County, Michigan

Chippewa County had 17 maple operations and 28,305 taps in the 2022 Census. Around Sault Ste. Marie, sap usually runs from March 24 to April 23. Here's the long-run pattern, 36 seasons of sap weather, and the outlook this week.
Too early to tapAbout 169 days until the usual start.
Sap starts
Mar 24
typical year
Season ends
Apr 23
about 4 weeks
Sap days / season
26.9
1991–2026 average
Taps, 2022
28,305
#7 of 66 in MI

Sap-flow outlook at Sault Ste. Marie right now

Full Michigan forecast →

Forecast for Sault Ste. Marie, MI

Updated Oct 6, 10:42 AM EDT

Off-season for now. Sap needs freezing nights, and none are in sight. Chippewa County's season usually opens around March 24, which is 169 days away.

No freeze-thaw days in the forecast

freeze thaw 32°F

  1. WedOct 7
    53° / 63°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  2. ThuOct 8
    46° / 56°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  3. FriOct 9
    41° / 58°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  4. SatOct 10
    42° / 64°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  5. SunOct 11
    53° / 72°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  6. MonOct 12
    50° / 61°
    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 Sault Ste. Marie

Freeze-thaw weather at Sault Ste. Marie peaks in the weeks of Mar 9 to Apr 20, which hold about 60% of a season's sap days. April is the busiest month.
Typical season: Mar 24 – Apr 230246Week of Dec 1: 0.6 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 8: 0.9 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 15: 0.8 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 22: 0.7 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 29: 0.3 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 5: 0.4 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 12: 0.2 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 19: 0.3 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 26: 0.3 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 2: 0.4 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 9: 0.3 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 16: 0.7 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 23: 0.9 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 2: 1.4 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 9: 1.7 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 16: 1.9 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 23: 2.6 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 30: 2.7 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 6: 2.6 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 13: 2.5 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 20: 2.2 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 27: 1.3 sap days on averageWeek of May 4: 0.6 sap days on averageWeek of May 11: 0.6 sap days on averageWeek of May 18: 0.1 sap days on averageWeek of May 25: 0.1 sap days on averageDecJanFebMarAprMaytaps in ~Mar 24
Average number of freeze-thaw sap days in each week of the season at Sault Ste. Marie, 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 28; the middle half of seasons fell between Mar 17 and Mar 31. Earliest Feb 28 (2010), latest Apr 11 (1996).
Closing signal
Median Apr 26; middle half between Apr 18 and May 1. Earliest Mar 31 (2010), latest May 14 (1996).
Sap days by month
Dec12%Jan4%Feb8%Mar33%Apr37%May6%

36 seasons of sap weather

Chippewa County seasons, 1991–2026

The best sap year at Sault Ste. Marie was 2020 with 40 freeze-thaw days; the leanest was 2015 with 16. 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 29 – May 3, 18 sap days1820252025: Mar 30 – Apr 20, 25 sap days2520242024: Mar 10 – Apr 8, 30 sap days3020232023: Mar 26 – Apr 27, 29 sap days2920222022: Apr 2 – Apr 29, 27 sap days2720212021: Mar 8 – Apr 4, 27 sap days2720202020: Mar 29 – Apr 26, 40 sap days4020192019: Apr 1 – May 4, 32 sap days3220182018: Apr 3 – Apr 30, 31 sap days3120172017: Mar 17 – Apr 18, 21 sap days2120162016: Mar 25 – Apr 28, 25 sap days2520152015: Mar 29 – Apr 26, 16 sap days1620142014: Apr 6 – May 6, 21 sap days2120132013: Mar 31 – Apr 26, 26 sap days2620122012: Mar 7 – Apr 2, 31 sap days3120112011: Mar 30 – Apr 24, 24 sap days2420102010: Feb 28 – Mar 31, 29 sap days2920092009: Mar 27 – Apr 23, 24 sap days2420082008: Mar 27 – Apr 16, 19 sap days1920072007: Mar 19 – Apr 17, 28 sap days2820062006: Mar 16 – Apr 10, 20 sap days2020052005: Mar 14 – Apr 13, 23 sap days2320042004: Mar 30 – May 4, 30 sap days3020032003: Mar 27 – Apr 30, 31 sap days3120022002: Mar 31 – May 4, 38 sap days3820012001: Mar 26 – Apr 28, 23 sap days2320002000: Mar 16 – Apr 18, 26 sap days2619991999: Mar 16 – Apr 20, 25 sap days2519981998: Mar 10 – Apr 11, 31 sap days3119971997: Mar 31 – May 2, 22 sap days2219961996: Apr 11 – May 14, 24 sap days2419951995: Mar 28 – Apr 26, 34 sap days3419941994: Apr 2 – May 7, 37 sap days3719931993: Mar 28 – Apr 27, 29 sap days2919921992: Apr 3 – May 7, 27 sap days2719911991: Mar 21 – Apr 24, 27 sap days27
Each bar runs from the season's opening signal to its closing signal, estimated from daily temperatures at Sault Ste. Marie. Dashed lines mark the typical dates. The right column counts freeze-thaw sap days from December through May.

Maple production

Chippewa County in the Census of Agriculture

USDA counts maple operations every five years. In Chippewa County the 2022 Census found 17 farms making syrup (+55% since 2017), with taps -27% and syrup output -7% over the same five years. That works out to about 0.33 gallons of syrup per tap in 2022 (0.26 in 2017). Among the 385 counties in this atlas, Chippewa County ranks 81 by taps.

Chippewa County maple production, 2017 and 2022 (USDA Census of Agriculture)
Census yearFarmsTapsGallons of syrupGal / tap
20221728,3059,4100.33
20171138,87210,1500.26

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 Sault Ste. Marie (600ft), 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

Chippewa County sugaring questions

When should I tap maple trees in Chippewa County, Michigan?
In a typical year the sap starts running around March 24 near Sault Ste. Marie and the season winds down around April 23. 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 28 and as late as Apr 11.
How much maple syrup does Chippewa County produce?
The 2022 Census of Agriculture counted 17 maple operations in Chippewa County with 28,305 taps producing 9,410 gallons of syrup, ranking 7 of 66 Michigan's counties with published tap counts.
How many sap days does Chippewa County get in a season?
On average 26.9 freeze-thaw sap days from December through May at Sault Ste. Marie, of which about 10.5 are textbook days with a night in the 20s and a day in the 40s. The best season since 1991 was 2020 (40 sap days); the leanest was 2015 (16).
Where do these dates come from?
From 36 seasons of daily high and low temperatures at Sault Ste. Marie (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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