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Michigan · county maple atlas

Maple sugaring in Houghton County, Michigan

Houghton County had 14 maple operations and 29,498 taps in the 2022 Census. Around Houghton, sap usually runs from March 23 to April 25. Here's the long-run pattern, 36 seasons of sap weather, and the outlook this week.
Too early to tapAbout 168 days until the usual start.
Sap starts
Mar 23
typical year
Season ends
Apr 25
about 5 weeks
Sap days / season
28.7
1991–2026 average
Taps, 2022
29,498
#6 of 66 in MI

Sap-flow outlook at Houghton right now

Full Michigan forecast →

Forecast for Houghton, MI

Updated Oct 6, 10:24 AM EDT

Off-season for now. Sap needs freezing nights, and none are in sight. Houghton County's season usually opens around March 23, which is 168 days away.

No freeze-thaw days in the forecast

freeze thaw 32°F

  1. WedOct 7
    49° / 60°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  2. ThuOct 8
    44° / 55°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  3. FriOct 9
    40° / 58°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  4. SatOct 10
    44° / 71°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  5. SunOct 11
    56° / 70°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  6. MonOct 12
    46° / 57°
    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 Houghton

Freeze-thaw weather at Houghton peaks in the weeks of Mar 9 to Apr 27, which hold about 63% of a season's sap days. April is the busiest month.
Typical season: Mar 23 – Apr 250246Week of Dec 1: 0.8 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 8: 1.0 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 15: 0.6 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 22: 0.5 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: 0.1 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 19: 0.2 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 26: 0.3 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 2: 0.8 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 9: 0.6 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 16: 0.9 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 23: 1.0 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 2: 1.5 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 9: 1.7 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 16: 2.1 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 23: 2.8 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 30: 2.6 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 6: 2.8 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 13: 2.2 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 20: 2.3 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 27: 1.7 sap days on averageWeek of May 4: 0.9 sap days on averageWeek of May 11: 0.3 sap days on averageWeek of May 18: 0.3 sap days on averageWeek of May 25: 0.1 sap days on averageDecJanFebMarAprMaytaps in ~Mar 23
Average number of freeze-thaw sap days in each week of the season at Houghton, 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 27; the middle half of seasons fell between Mar 15 and Mar 30. Earliest Feb 16 (2012), latest Apr 10 (1996).
Closing signal
Median Apr 28; middle half between Apr 16 and May 2. Earliest Mar 17 (2012), latest May 13 (2013).
Sap days by month
Dec10%Jan4%Feb11%Mar32%Apr36%May7%

36 seasons of sap weather

Houghton County seasons, 1991–2026

The best sap year at Houghton was 2024 with 41 freeze-thaw days; the leanest was 2001 with 19. 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 22 – Apr 21, 34 sap days3420252025: Mar 29 – May 1, 37 sap days3720242024: Mar 13 – Apr 8, 41 sap days4120232023: Mar 30 – May 3, 30 sap days3020222022: Apr 4 – May 5, 29 sap days2920212021: Mar 8 – Apr 3, 37 sap days3720202020: Apr 3 – May 7, 35 sap days3520192019: Mar 31 – Apr 28, 24 sap days2420182018: Apr 2 – Apr 30, 34 sap days3420172017: Mar 15 – Apr 18, 36 sap days3620162016: Mar 26 – Apr 30, 29 sap days2920152015: Mar 24 – Apr 28, 23 sap days2320142014: Apr 6 – May 6, 24 sap days2420132013: Apr 9 – May 13, 25 sap days2520122012: Feb 16 – Mar 17, 35 sap days3520112011: Mar 27 – Apr 29, 28 sap days2820102010: Mar 3 – Mar 30, 27 sap days2720092009: Mar 27 – Apr 29, 31 sap days3120082008: Mar 30 – May 1, 20 sap days2020072007: Mar 17 – Apr 16, 21 sap days2120062006: Mar 14 – Apr 9, 24 sap days2420052005: Mar 13 – Apr 13, 27 sap days2720042004: Apr 1 – May 6, 33 sap days3320032003: Mar 26 – Apr 30, 31 sap days3120022002: Mar 30 – May 3, 40 sap days4020012001: Mar 25 – Apr 23, 19 sap days1920002000: Mar 11 – Apr 14, 23 sap days2319991999: Mar 15 – Apr 13, 24 sap days2419981998: Mar 9 – Apr 10, 23 sap days2319971997: Mar 27 – Apr 22, 22 sap days2219961996: Apr 10 – May 12, 23 sap days2319951995: Mar 29 – Apr 26, 28 sap days2819941994: Mar 22 – Apr 22, 35 sap days3519931993: Mar 29 – Apr 27, 29 sap days2919921992: Apr 2 – May 7, 25 sap days2519911991: Mar 16 – Apr 20, 28 sap days28
Each bar runs from the season's opening signal to its closing signal, estimated from daily temperatures at Houghton. Dashed lines mark the typical dates. The right column counts freeze-thaw sap days from December through May.

Maple production

Houghton County in the Census of Agriculture

USDA counts maple operations every five years. In Houghton County the 2022 Census found 14 farms making syrup (+40% since 2017), with taps +71% and syrup output +115% over the same five years. That works out to about 0.30 gallons of syrup per tap in 2022 (0.24 in 2017). Among the 385 counties in this atlas, Houghton County ranks 79 by taps.

Houghton County maple production, 2017 and 2022 (USDA Census of Agriculture)
Census yearFarmsTapsGallons of syrupGal / tap
20221429,4988,8920.30
20171017,2914,1420.24

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 Houghton (738ft), 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

Houghton County sugaring questions

When should I tap maple trees in Houghton County, Michigan?
In a typical year the sap starts running around March 23 near Houghton and the season winds down around April 25. 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 16 and as late as Apr 10.
How much maple syrup does Houghton County produce?
The 2022 Census of Agriculture counted 14 maple operations in Houghton County with 29,498 taps producing 8,892 gallons of syrup, ranking 6 of 66 Michigan's counties with published tap counts.
How many sap days does Houghton County get in a season?
On average 28.7 freeze-thaw sap days from December through May at Houghton, of which about 9.7 are textbook days with a night in the 20s and a day in the 40s. The best season since 1991 was 2024 (41 sap days); the leanest was 2001 (19).
Where do these dates come from?
From 36 seasons of daily high and low temperatures at Houghton (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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