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Michigan · county maple atlas

Maple sugaring in St. Joseph County, Michigan

St. Joseph County had 12 maple operations and 3,248 taps in the 2022 Census. Around Centreville, sap usually runs from February 18 to March 22. Here's the long-run pattern, 36 seasons of sap weather, and the outlook this week.
Too early to tapAbout 135 days until the usual start.
Sap starts
Feb 18
typical year
Season ends
Mar 22
about 5 weeks
Sap days / season
40.4
1991–2026 average
Taps, 2022
3,248
#40 of 66 in MI

Sap-flow outlook at Centreville right now

Full Michigan forecast →

Forecast for Centreville, MI

Updated Oct 6, 9:30 AM EDT

Off-season for now. Sap needs freezing nights, and none are in sight. St. Joseph County's season usually opens around February 18, which is 135 days away.

No freeze-thaw days in the forecast

freeze thaw 32°F

  1. WedOct 7
    54° / 73°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  2. ThuOct 8
    50° / 65°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  3. FriOct 9
    45° / 68°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  4. SatOct 10
    47° / 73°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  5. SunOct 11
    55° / 76°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  6. MonOct 12
    54° / 74°
    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 Centreville

Freeze-thaw weather at Centreville peaks in the weeks of Feb 16 to Apr 6, which hold about 52% of a season's sap days. March is the busiest month.
Typical season: Feb 18 – Mar 220246Week of Dec 1: 1.9 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 8: 2.1 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 15: 1.8 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 22: 1.8 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 29: 1.3 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 5: 1.3 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 12: 1.1 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 19: 0.9 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 26: 1.4 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 2: 1.8 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 9: 1.9 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 16: 2.2 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 23: 2.1 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 2: 2.8 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 9: 2.9 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 16: 3.4 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 23: 3.1 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 30: 2.6 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 6: 2.1 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 13: 1.0 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 20: 0.7 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 27: 0.2 sap days on averageWeek of May 4: 0.1 sap days on averageWeek of May 11: 0.1 sap days on averageWeek of May 18: 0.0 sap days on averageWeek of May 25: 0.0 sap days on averageDecJanFebMarAprMaytaps in ~Feb 18
Average number of freeze-thaw sap days in each week of the season at Centreville, 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 Feb 22; the middle half of seasons fell between Feb 15 and Feb 27. Earliest Jan 24 (2017), latest Mar 11 (2008).
Closing signal
Median Mar 25; middle half between Mar 19 and Apr 2. Earliest Feb 28 (2017), latest Apr 7 (2014).
Sap days by month
Dec20%Jan13%Feb20%Mar33%Apr14%May1%

36 seasons of sap weather

St. Joseph County seasons, 1991–2026

The best sap year at Centreville was 2002 with 60 freeze-thaw days; the leanest was 2010 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: Feb 10 – Mar 5, 36 sap days3620252025: Feb 17 – Mar 24, 38 sap days3820242024: Feb 3 – Mar 3, 37 sap days3720232023: Feb 15 – Mar 21, 45 sap days4520222022: Feb 24 – Mar 30, 47 sap days4720212021: Feb 22 – Mar 22, 38 sap days3820202020: Feb 20 – Mar 25, 47 sap days4720192019: Mar 2 – Apr 2, 43 sap days4320182018: Feb 24 – Mar 27, 54 sap days5420172017: Jan 24 – Feb 28, 34 sap days3420162016: Feb 10 – Mar 7, 40 sap days4020152015: Mar 7 – Apr 5, 30 sap days3020142014: Mar 10 – Apr 7, 28 sap days2820132013: Mar 8 – Apr 5, 40 sap days4020122012: Feb 9 – Mar 12, 41 sap days4120112011: Mar 2 – Apr 3, 27 sap days2720102010: Feb 22 – Mar 28, 25 sap days2520092009: Feb 18 – Mar 23, 37 sap days3720082008: Mar 11 – Apr 4, 31 sap days3120072007: Feb 19 – Mar 21, 35 sap days3520062006: Feb 6 – Mar 8, 44 sap days4420052005: Feb 27 – Mar 29, 35 sap days3520042004: Feb 21 – Mar 24, 40 sap days4020032003: Feb 24 – Mar 31, 37 sap days3720022002: Feb 24 – Mar 31, 60 sap days6020012001: Mar 4 – Apr 5, 42 sap days4220002000: Feb 1 – Mar 7, 44 sap days4419991999: Feb 26 – Mar 30, 55 sap days5519981998: Feb 19 – Mar 25, 48 sap days4819971997: Feb 21 – Mar 25, 51 sap days5119961996: Feb 27 – Apr 3, 47 sap days4719951995: Feb 13 – Mar 11, 41 sap days4119941994: Feb 28 – Apr 4, 42 sap days4219931993: Mar 8 – Apr 4, 31 sap days3119921992: Feb 3 – Mar 2, 41 sap days4119911991: Feb 18 – Mar 25, 45 sap days45
Each bar runs from the season's opening signal to its closing signal, estimated from daily temperatures at Centreville. Dashed lines mark the typical dates. The right column counts freeze-thaw sap days from December through May.

Maple production

St. Joseph County in the Census of Agriculture

USDA counts maple operations every five years. In St. Joseph County the 2022 Census found 12 farms making syrup (+71% since 2017). That works out to about 0.26 gallons of syrup per tap in 2022. Among the 385 counties in this atlas, St. Joseph County ranks 221 by taps.

St. Joseph County maple production, 2017 and 2022 (USDA Census of Agriculture)
Census yearFarmsTapsGallons of syrupGal / tap
2022123,2488480.26
20177withheldwithheld—

“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 Centreville (820ft), 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

St. Joseph County sugaring questions

When should I tap maple trees in St. Joseph County, Michigan?
In a typical year the sap starts running around February 18 near Centreville and the season winds down around March 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 Jan 24 and as late as Mar 11.
How much maple syrup does St. Joseph County produce?
The 2022 Census of Agriculture counted 12 maple operations in St. Joseph County with 3,248 taps producing 848 gallons of syrup, ranking 40 of 66 Michigan's counties with published tap counts.
How many sap days does St. Joseph County get in a season?
On average 40.4 freeze-thaw sap days from December through May at Centreville, of which about 14.3 are textbook days with a night in the 20s and a day in the 40s. The best season since 1991 was 2002 (60 sap days); the leanest was 2010 (25).
Where do these dates come from?
From 36 seasons of daily high and low temperatures at Centreville (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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