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Michigan · county maple atlas

Maple sugaring in Oceana County, Michigan

Oceana County had 11 maple operations and 8,740 taps in the 2022 Census. Around Hart, sap usually runs from March 3 to April 5. Here's the long-run pattern, 36 seasons of sap weather, and the outlook this week.
Too early to tapAbout 148 days until the usual start.
Sap starts
Mar 3
typical year
Season ends
Apr 5
about 5 weeks
Sap days / season
36.9
1991–2026 average
Taps, 2022
8,740
#23 of 66 in MI

Sap-flow outlook at Hart right now

Full Michigan forecast →

Forecast for Hart, MI

Updated Oct 6, 11:03 AM EDT

Off-season for now. Sap needs freezing nights, and none are in sight. Oceana County's season usually opens around March 3, which is 148 days away.

No freeze-thaw days in the forecast

freeze thaw 32°F

  1. WedOct 7
    56° / 67°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  2. ThuOct 8
    52° / 60°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  3. FriOct 9
    46° / 62°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  4. SatOct 10
    48° / 69°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  5. SunOct 11
    57° / 72°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  6. MonOct 12
    51° / 66°
    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 Hart

Freeze-thaw weather at Hart peaks in the weeks of Mar 2 to Apr 6, which hold about 45% of a season's sap days. March is the busiest month.
Typical season: Mar 3 – Apr 50246Week of Dec 1: 1.4 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 8: 1.5 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 15: 1.3 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 22: 1.3 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 29: 0.9 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 5: 1.1 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 12: 0.7 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 19: 0.6 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 26: 0.8 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 2: 1.0 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 9: 1.1 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 16: 1.5 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 23: 1.9 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 2: 2.3 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 9: 2.5 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 16: 3.1 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 23: 3.4 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 30: 3.0 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 6: 2.5 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 13: 1.6 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 20: 1.6 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 27: 1.0 sap days on averageWeek of May 4: 0.4 sap days on averageWeek of May 11: 0.3 sap days on averageWeek of May 18: 0.1 sap days on averageWeek of May 25: 0.1 sap days on averageDecJanFebMarAprMaytaps in ~Mar 3
Average number of freeze-thaw sap days in each week of the season at Hart, 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 7; the middle half of seasons fell between Feb 27 and Mar 14. Earliest Feb 9 (2000), latest Mar 23 (2013).
Closing signal
Median Apr 8; middle half between Mar 31 and Apr 14. Earliest Mar 12 (2012), latest Apr 27 (2018).
Sap days by month
Dec16%Jan9%Feb15%Mar34%Apr23%May3%

36 seasons of sap weather

Oceana County seasons, 1991–2026

The best sap year at Hart was 2018 with 60 freeze-thaw days; the leanest was 2011 with 22. 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 23 – Mar 29, 28 sap days2820252025: Mar 6 – Apr 9, 35 sap days3520242024: Feb 9 – Mar 13, 36 sap days3620232023: Mar 6 – Apr 8, 47 sap days4720222022: Mar 16 – Apr 20, 33 sap days3320212021: Mar 1 – Apr 3, 33 sap days3320202020: Mar 6 – Apr 7, 50 sap days5020192019: Mar 14 – Apr 15, 35 sap days3520182018: Mar 23 – Apr 27, 60 sap days6020172017: Feb 21 – Mar 24, 30 sap days3020162016: Feb 24 – Mar 31, 32 sap days3220152015: Mar 11 – Apr 5, 27 sap days2720142014: Mar 21 – Apr 24, 34 sap days3420132013: Mar 23 – Apr 22, 46 sap days4620122012: Feb 12 – Mar 12, 46 sap days4620112011: Mar 11 – Apr 12, 22 sap days2220102010: Feb 25 – Mar 31, 40 sap days4020092009: Mar 11 – Apr 13, 37 sap days3720082008: Mar 14 – Apr 17, 34 sap days3420072007: Feb 23 – Mar 21, 30 sap days3020062006: Mar 3 – Apr 4, 29 sap days2920052005: Mar 5 – Apr 4, 28 sap days2820042004: Mar 4 – Apr 8, 47 sap days4720032003: Mar 11 – Apr 13, 26 sap days2620022002: Mar 8 – Apr 10, 46 sap days4620012001: Mar 8 – Apr 4, 28 sap days2820002000: Feb 9 – Mar 15, 44 sap days4419991999: Feb 28 – Mar 31, 51 sap days5119981998: Feb 22 – Mar 25, 30 sap days3019971997: Mar 14 – Apr 18, 33 sap days3319961996: Mar 17 – Apr 19, 44 sap days4419951995: Mar 7 – Apr 10, 36 sap days3619941994: Mar 13 – Apr 11, 40 sap days4019931993: Mar 15 – Apr 18, 36 sap days3619921992: Mar 17 – Apr 10, 40 sap days4019911991: Feb 28 – Apr 3, 37 sap days37
Each bar runs from the season's opening signal to its closing signal, estimated from daily temperatures at Hart. Dashed lines mark the typical dates. The right column counts freeze-thaw sap days from December through May.

Maple production

Oceana County in the Census of Agriculture

USDA counts maple operations every five years. In Oceana County the 2022 Census found 11 farms making syrup (+57% since 2017), with taps +74% and syrup output +165% over the same five years. That works out to about 0.41 gallons of syrup per tap in 2022 (0.27 in 2017). Among the 385 counties in this atlas, Oceana County ranks 147 by taps.

Oceana County maple production, 2017 and 2022 (USDA Census of Agriculture)
Census yearFarmsTapsGallons of syrupGal / tap
2022118,7403,6030.41
201775,0251,3580.27

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 Hart (640ft), 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

Oceana County sugaring questions

When should I tap maple trees in Oceana County, Michigan?
In a typical year the sap starts running around March 3 near Hart and the season winds down around April 5. 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 9 and as late as Mar 23.
How much maple syrup does Oceana County produce?
The 2022 Census of Agriculture counted 11 maple operations in Oceana County with 8,740 taps producing 3,603 gallons of syrup, ranking 23 of 66 Michigan's counties with published tap counts.
How many sap days does Oceana County get in a season?
On average 36.9 freeze-thaw sap days from December through May at Hart, of which about 13.7 are textbook days with a night in the 20s and a day in the 40s. The best season since 1991 was 2018 (60 sap days); the leanest was 2011 (22).
Where do these dates come from?
From 36 seasons of daily high and low temperatures at Hart (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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