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Michigan · county maple atlas

Maple sugaring in Otsego County, Michigan

Otsego County had 14 maple operations and 9,235 taps in the 2022 Census. Around Gaylord, sap usually runs from March 13 to April 14. Here's the long-run pattern, 36 seasons of sap weather, and the outlook this week.
Too early to tapAbout 158 days until the usual start.
Sap starts
Mar 13
typical year
Season ends
Apr 14
about 5 weeks
Sap days / season
35.5
1991–2026 average
Taps, 2022
9,235
#21 of 66 in MI

Sap-flow outlook at Gaylord right now

Full Michigan forecast →

Forecast for Gaylord, MI

Updated Oct 6, 10:42 AM EDT

Off-season for now. Sap needs freezing nights, and none are in sight. Otsego County's season usually opens around March 13, which is 158 days away.

No freeze-thaw days in the forecast

freeze thaw 32°F

  1. WedOct 7
    52° / 65°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  2. ThuOct 8
    41° / 57°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  3. FriOct 9
    35° / 60°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  4. SatOct 10
    39° / 68°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  5. SunOct 11
    53° / 74°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  6. MonOct 12
    48° / 64°
    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 Gaylord

Freeze-thaw weather at Gaylord peaks in the weeks of Mar 16 to Apr 20, which hold about 49% of a season's sap days. April is the busiest month.
Typical season: Mar 13 – Apr 140246Week of Dec 1: 0.8 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 8: 1.2 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 15: 0.6 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 22: 0.8 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 29: 0.5 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 5: 0.6 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 12: 0.4 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 19: 0.3 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 26: 0.4 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 2: 0.9 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 9: 0.8 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 16: 1.2 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 23: 1.4 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 2: 2.1 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 9: 2.0 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 16: 2.4 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 23: 3.2 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 30: 3.4 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 6: 3.3 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 13: 2.6 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 20: 2.5 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 27: 1.9 sap days on averageWeek of May 4: 0.8 sap days on averageWeek of May 11: 0.6 sap days on averageWeek of May 18: 0.3 sap days on averageWeek of May 25: 0.2 sap days on averageDecJanFebMarAprMaytaps in ~Mar 13
Average number of freeze-thaw sap days in each week of the season at Gaylord, 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 17; the middle half of seasons fell between Mar 10 and Mar 26. Earliest Feb 15 (2012), latest Apr 1 (2014).
Closing signal
Median Apr 17; middle half between Apr 11 and Apr 26. Earliest Mar 16 (2012), latest May 6 (2014).
Sap days by month
Dec10%Jan6%Feb12%Mar31%Apr34%May7%

36 seasons of sap weather

Otsego County seasons, 1991–2026

The best sap year at Gaylord was 2002 with 47 freeze-thaw days; the leanest was 2007 with 25. 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 13 – Apr 12, 35 sap days3520252025: Mar 21 – Apr 20, 36 sap days3620242024: Mar 4 – Apr 8, 37 sap days3720232023: Mar 11 – Apr 9, 39 sap days3920222022: Mar 29 – Apr 29, 31 sap days3120212021: Mar 4 – Apr 4, 39 sap days3920202020: Mar 28 – May 2, 46 sap days4620192019: Mar 26 – Apr 29, 39 sap days3920182018: Mar 31 – Apr 30, 37 sap days3720172017: Mar 8 – Apr 8, 33 sap days3320162016: Mar 17 – Apr 15, 32 sap days3220152015: Mar 24 – Apr 26, 30 sap days3020142014: Apr 1 – May 6, 30 sap days3020132013: Mar 28 – Apr 26, 30 sap days3020122012: Feb 15 – Mar 16, 44 sap days4420112011: Mar 26 – Apr 24, 31 sap days3120102010: Mar 5 – Mar 31, 34 sap days3420092009: Mar 21 – Apr 23, 42 sap days4220082008: Mar 26 – Apr 16, 26 sap days2620072007: Mar 16 – Apr 17, 25 sap days2520062006: Mar 12 – Apr 10, 26 sap days2620052005: Mar 10 – Apr 13, 26 sap days2620042004: Mar 15 – Apr 16, 42 sap days4220032003: Mar 16 – Apr 18, 32 sap days3220022002: Mar 14 – Apr 13, 47 sap days4720012001: Mar 19 – Apr 19, 28 sap days2820002000: Feb 28 – Mar 21, 40 sap days4019991999: Mar 10 – Apr 13, 35 sap days3519981998: Mar 8 – Apr 11, 37 sap days3719971997: Mar 23 – Apr 26, 28 sap days2819961996: Mar 29 – May 3, 41 sap days4119951995: Mar 13 – Apr 16, 42 sap days4219941994: Mar 20 – Apr 22, 44 sap days4419931993: Mar 26 – Apr 27, 36 sap days3619921992: Mar 27 – Apr 29, 41 sap days4119911991: Mar 4 – Apr 3, 37 sap days37
Each bar runs from the season's opening signal to its closing signal, estimated from daily temperatures at Gaylord. Dashed lines mark the typical dates. The right column counts freeze-thaw sap days from December through May.

Maple production

Otsego County in the Census of Agriculture

USDA counts maple operations every five years. In Otsego County the 2022 Census found 14 farms making syrup (+367% since 2017). That works out to about 0.33 gallons of syrup per tap in 2022. Among the 385 counties in this atlas, Otsego County ranks 143 by taps.

Otsego County maple production, 2017 and 2022 (USDA Census of Agriculture)
Census yearFarmsTapsGallons of syrupGal / tap
2022149,2353,0140.33
20173withheldwithheld—

“Withheld” means USDA suppressed the figure to avoid disclosing data for individual operations; the farm count is still published.

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 Gaylord (1,325ft), 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

Otsego County sugaring questions

When should I tap maple trees in Otsego County, Michigan?
In a typical year the sap starts running around March 13 near Gaylord and the season winds down around April 14. 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 15 and as late as Apr 1.
How much maple syrup does Otsego County produce?
The 2022 Census of Agriculture counted 14 maple operations in Otsego County with 9,235 taps producing 3,014 gallons of syrup, ranking 21 of 66 Michigan's counties with published tap counts.
How many sap days does Otsego County get in a season?
On average 35.5 freeze-thaw sap days from December through May at Gaylord, of which about 10.7 are textbook days with a night in the 20s and a day in the 40s. The best season since 1991 was 2002 (47 sap days); the leanest was 2007 (25).
Where do these dates come from?
From 36 seasons of daily high and low temperatures at Gaylord (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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