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Michigan · county maple atlas

Maple sugaring in Wexford County, Michigan

Wexford County had 16 maple operations and 7,180 taps in the 2022 Census. Around Cadillac, sap usually runs from March 11 to April 13. Here's the long-run pattern, 36 seasons of sap weather, and the outlook this week.
Too early to tapAbout 156 days until the usual start.
Sap starts
Mar 11
typical year
Season ends
Apr 13
about 5 weeks
Sap days / season
40.3
1991–2026 average
Taps, 2022
7,180
#27 of 66 in MI

Sap-flow outlook at Cadillac right now

Full Michigan forecast →

Forecast for Cadillac, MI

Updated Oct 6, 10:42 AM EDT

Off-season for now. Sap needs freezing nights, and none are in sight. Wexford County's season usually opens around March 11, which is 156 days away.

No freeze-thaw days in the forecast

freeze thaw 32°F

  1. WedOct 7
    51° / 68°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  2. ThuOct 8
    40° / 60°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  3. FriOct 9
    35° / 63°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  4. SatOct 10
    39° / 70°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  5. SunOct 11
    52° / 74°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  6. MonOct 12
    47° / 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 Cadillac

Freeze-thaw weather at Cadillac peaks in the weeks of Mar 2 to Apr 20, which hold about 59% of a season's sap days. March is the busiest month.
Typical season: Mar 11 – Apr 130246Week of Dec 1: 1.3 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 8: 1.3 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 15: 1.0 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 22: 0.9 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 29: 0.6 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 5: 0.8 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 12: 0.4 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 19: 0.4 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 26: 0.6 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 2: 1.0 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 9: 0.9 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 16: 1.4 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 23: 1.6 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 2: 2.3 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 9: 2.4 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 16: 3.1 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 23: 3.6 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 30: 3.7 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 6: 3.5 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 13: 2.7 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 20: 2.6 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 27: 1.7 sap days on averageWeek of May 4: 1.0 sap days on averageWeek of May 11: 0.8 sap days on averageWeek of May 18: 0.4 sap days on averageWeek of May 25: 0.2 sap days on averageDecJanFebMarAprMaytaps in ~Mar 11
Average number of freeze-thaw sap days in each week of the season at Cadillac, 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 15; the middle half of seasons fell between Mar 8 and Mar 22. Earliest Feb 15 (2012), latest Mar 29 (2018).
Closing signal
Median Apr 16; middle half between Apr 10 and Apr 24. Earliest Mar 16 (2012), latest Apr 30 (2018).
Sap days by month
Dec12%Jan6%Feb12%Mar32%Apr31%May7%

36 seasons of sap weather

Wexford County seasons, 1991–2026

The best sap year at Cadillac was 2012 with 53 freeze-thaw days; the leanest was 2001 with 26. 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 9 – Apr 12, 41 sap days4120252025: Mar 18 – Apr 20, 46 sap days4620242024: Mar 3 – Apr 7, 44 sap days4420232023: Mar 11 – Apr 9, 47 sap days4720222022: Mar 25 – Apr 29, 35 sap days3520212021: Mar 3 – Apr 5, 43 sap days4320202020: Mar 23 – Apr 26, 50 sap days5020192019: Mar 19 – Apr 16, 40 sap days4020182018: Mar 29 – Apr 30, 51 sap days5120172017: Mar 5 – Apr 9, 29 sap days2920162016: Mar 13 – Apr 15, 43 sap days4320152015: Mar 15 – Apr 15, 35 sap days3520142014: Mar 26 – Apr 27, 33 sap days3320132013: Mar 27 – Apr 26, 40 sap days4020122012: Feb 15 – Mar 16, 53 sap days5320112011: Mar 22 – Apr 24, 36 sap days3620102010: Mar 3 – Mar 31, 40 sap days4020092009: Mar 20 – Apr 24, 42 sap days4220082008: Mar 26 – Apr 17, 28 sap days2820072007: Mar 11 – Apr 15, 34 sap days3420062006: Mar 10 – Apr 10, 32 sap days3220052005: Mar 9 – Apr 13, 37 sap days3720042004: Mar 14 – Apr 15, 43 sap days4320032003: Mar 15 – Apr 18, 41 sap days4120022002: Mar 12 – Apr 10, 44 sap days4420012001: Mar 17 – Apr 19, 26 sap days2620002000: Feb 28 – Mar 21, 44 sap days4419991999: Mar 6 – Apr 10, 43 sap days4319981998: Mar 4 – Apr 7, 42 sap days4219971997: Mar 22 – Apr 26, 42 sap days4219961996: Mar 23 – Apr 25, 37 sap days3719951995: Mar 14 – Apr 16, 46 sap days4619941994: Mar 19 – Apr 23, 50 sap days5019931993: Mar 23 – Apr 27, 35 sap days3519921992: Mar 23 – Apr 16, 41 sap days4119911991: Mar 4 – Apr 3, 36 sap days36
Each bar runs from the season's opening signal to its closing signal, estimated from daily temperatures at Cadillac. Dashed lines mark the typical dates. The right column counts freeze-thaw sap days from December through May.

Maple production

Wexford County in the Census of Agriculture

USDA counts maple operations every five years. In Wexford County the 2022 Census found 16 farms making syrup (+14% since 2017), with taps +13% and syrup output +127% over the same five years. That works out to about 0.37 gallons of syrup per tap in 2022 (0.18 in 2017). Among the 385 counties in this atlas, Wexford County ranks 161 by taps.

Wexford County maple production, 2017 and 2022 (USDA Census of Agriculture)
Census yearFarmsTapsGallons of syrupGal / tap
2022167,1802,6520.37
2017146,3541,1660.18

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 Cadillac (1,306ft), 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

Wexford County sugaring questions

When should I tap maple trees in Wexford County, Michigan?
In a typical year the sap starts running around March 11 near Cadillac and the season winds down around April 13. 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 Mar 29.
How much maple syrup does Wexford County produce?
The 2022 Census of Agriculture counted 16 maple operations in Wexford County with 7,180 taps producing 2,652 gallons of syrup, ranking 27 of 66 Michigan's counties with published tap counts.
How many sap days does Wexford County get in a season?
On average 40.3 freeze-thaw sap days from December through May at Cadillac, of which about 10.9 are textbook days with a night in the 20s and a day in the 40s. The best season since 1991 was 2012 (53 sap days); the leanest was 2001 (26).
Where do these dates come from?
From 36 seasons of daily high and low temperatures at Cadillac (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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