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Michigan · county maple atlas

Maple sugaring in Schoolcraft County, Michigan

Schoolcraft County had 5 maple operations and 681 taps in the 2022 Census. Around Manistique, sap usually runs from March 25 to April 22. Here's the long-run pattern, 36 seasons of sap weather, and the outlook this week.
Too early to tapAbout 170 days until the usual start.
Sap starts
Mar 25
typical year
Season ends
Apr 22
about 4 weeks
Sap days / season
28.1
1991–2026 average
Taps, 2022
681
#55 of 66 in MI

Sap-flow outlook at Manistique right now

Full Michigan forecast →

Forecast for Manistique, MI

Updated Oct 6, 10:24 AM EDT

Off-season for now. Sap needs freezing nights, and none are in sight. Schoolcraft County's season usually opens around March 25, which is 170 days away.

No freeze-thaw days in the forecast

freeze thaw 32°F

  1. WedOct 7
    46° / 68°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  2. ThuOct 8
    37° / 61°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  3. FriOct 9
    33° / 62°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  4. SatOct 10
    44° / 65°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  5. SunOct 11
    54° / 68°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  6. MonOct 12
    46° / 60°
    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 Manistique

Freeze-thaw weather at Manistique peaks in the weeks of Mar 16 to Apr 20, which hold about 53% of a season's sap days. April is the busiest month.
Typical season: Mar 25 – Apr 220246Week of Dec 1: 1.1 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 8: 1.2 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 15: 0.7 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 22: 0.7 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 29: 0.4 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 5: 0.5 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 12: 0.2 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 19: 0.2 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 26: 0.5 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 2: 0.6 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 9: 0.5 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 16: 0.8 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 23: 0.9 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 2: 1.2 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 9: 1.5 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 16: 2.1 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 23: 2.3 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 30: 2.6 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 6: 2.9 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 13: 2.5 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 20: 2.4 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: 0.4 sap days on averageWeek of May 18: 0.1 sap days on averageWeek of May 25: 0.0 sap days on averageDecJanFebMarAprMaytaps in ~Mar 25
Average number of freeze-thaw sap days in each week of the season at Manistique, 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 29; the middle half of seasons fell between Mar 22 and Apr 2. Earliest Feb 26 (2012), latest Apr 12 (1996).
Closing signal
Median Apr 25; middle half between Apr 18 and May 2. Earliest Mar 28 (2012), latest May 14 (1996).
Sap days by month
Dec14%Jan5%Feb10%Mar28%Apr38%May5%

36 seasons of sap weather

Schoolcraft County seasons, 1991–2026

The best sap year at Manistique was 2024 with 39 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 24 – Apr 21, 25 sap days2520252025: Mar 30 – May 1, 32 sap days3220242024: Mar 15 – Apr 17, 39 sap days3920232023: Mar 30 – Apr 26, 31 sap days3120222022: Apr 4 – Apr 29, 25 sap days2520212021: Mar 23 – Apr 25, 29 sap days2920202020: Apr 7 – May 12, 38 sap days3820192019: Apr 5 – May 8, 29 sap days2920182018: Apr 6 – May 11, 33 sap days3320172017: Mar 15 – Apr 18, 22 sap days2220162016: Mar 27 – Apr 28, 29 sap days2920152015: Mar 29 – Apr 26, 21 sap days2120142014: Apr 7 – May 6, 23 sap days2320132013: Apr 1 – Apr 25, 30 sap days3020122012: Feb 26 – Mar 28, 38 sap days3820112011: Apr 2 – May 4, 28 sap days2820102010: Mar 6 – Apr 10, 25 sap days2520092009: Mar 27 – Apr 24, 26 sap days2620082008: Mar 26 – Apr 15, 20 sap days2020072007: Mar 17 – Apr 17, 27 sap days2720062006: Mar 16 – Apr 9, 23 sap days2320052005: Mar 22 – Apr 13, 24 sap days2420042004: Mar 30 – May 4, 31 sap days3120032003: Mar 31 – May 3, 24 sap days2420022002: Mar 29 – Apr 27, 36 sap days3620012001: Mar 25 – Apr 19, 19 sap days1920002000: Mar 20 – Apr 18, 27 sap days2719991999: Mar 18 – Apr 14, 26 sap days2619981998: Mar 11 – Apr 11, 31 sap days3119971997: Apr 2 – Apr 20, 21 sap days2119961996: Apr 12 – May 14, 24 sap days2419951995: Mar 28 – Apr 23, 34 sap days3419941994: Apr 3 – May 2, 35 sap days3519931993: Apr 2 – Apr 28, 33 sap days3319921992: Apr 2 – May 7, 25 sap days2519911991: Mar 23 – Apr 22, 27 sap days27
Each bar runs from the season's opening signal to its closing signal, estimated from daily temperatures at Manistique. Dashed lines mark the typical dates. The right column counts freeze-thaw sap days from December through May.

Maple production

Schoolcraft County in the Census of Agriculture

USDA counts maple operations every five years. In Schoolcraft County the 2022 Census found 5 farms making syrup (+150% since 2017). That works out to about 0.10 gallons of syrup per tap in 2022. Among the 385 counties in this atlas, Schoolcraft County ranks 300 by taps.

Schoolcraft County maple production, 2017 and 2022 (USDA Census of Agriculture)
Census yearFarmsTapsGallons of syrupGal / tap
20225681710.10
20172withheldwithheld—

“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 Manistique (594ft), 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

Schoolcraft County sugaring questions

When should I tap maple trees in Schoolcraft County, Michigan?
In a typical year the sap starts running around March 25 near Manistique and the season winds down around April 22. 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 26 and as late as Apr 12.
How much maple syrup does Schoolcraft County produce?
The 2022 Census of Agriculture counted 5 maple operations in Schoolcraft County with 681 taps producing 71 gallons of syrup, ranking 55 of 66 Michigan's counties with published tap counts.
How many sap days does Schoolcraft County get in a season?
On average 28.1 freeze-thaw sap days from December through May at Manistique, 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 2024 (39 sap days); the leanest was 2001 (19).
Where do these dates come from?
From 36 seasons of daily high and low temperatures at Manistique (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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