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Minnesota · county maple atlas

Maple sugaring in Beltrami County, Minnesota

Beltrami County had 6 maple operations and 646 taps in the 2022 Census. Around Bemidji, sap usually runs from March 13 to April 15. 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 15
about 5 weeks
Sap days / season
35.6
1991–2026 average
Taps, 2022
646
#20 of 41 in MN

Sap-flow outlook at Bemidji right now

Full Minnesota forecast →

Forecast for Bemidji, MN

Updated Oct 6, 10:36 AM EDT

Off-season for now. Sap needs freezing nights, and none are in sight. Beltrami 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
    44° / 62°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  2. ThuOct 8
    38° / 61°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  3. FriOct 9
    39° / 64°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  4. SatOct 10
    50° / 72°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  5. SunOct 11
    51° / 60°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  6. MonOct 12
    41° / 50°
    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 Bemidji

Freeze-thaw weather at Bemidji peaks in the weeks of Mar 9 to Apr 20, which hold about 60% of a season's sap days. April is the busiest month.
Typical season: Mar 13 – Apr 150246Week of Dec 1: 0.8 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 8: 1.0 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 15: 0.6 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 22: 0.4 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 29: 0.3 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 5: 0.4 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 12: 0.3 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 19: 0.1 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 26: 0.6 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: 1.1 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 23: 1.1 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 2: 1.8 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 9: 2.3 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 16: 2.9 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 23: 3.4 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 30: 3.2 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 6: 3.3 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 13: 3.3 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 20: 3.0 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 27: 1.9 sap days on averageWeek of May 4: 1.1 sap days on averageWeek of May 11: 0.6 sap days on averageWeek of May 18: 0.2 sap days on averageWeek of May 25: 0.1 sap days on averageDecJanFebMarAprMaytaps in ~Mar 13
Average number of freeze-thaw sap days in each week of the season at Bemidji, 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 23; the middle half of seasons fell between Mar 14 and Mar 29. Earliest Feb 21 (2012), latest Apr 11 (1996).
Closing signal
Median Apr 24; middle half between Apr 14 and Apr 29. Earliest Mar 28 (2012), latest May 13 (1996).
Sap days by month
Dec8%Jan4%Feb11%Mar32%Apr37%May7%

36 seasons of sap weather

Beltrami County seasons, 1991–2026

The best sap year at Bemidji was 2021 with 56 freeze-thaw days; the leanest was 2001 with 20. 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 19 – Apr 21, 47 sap days4720252025: Mar 22 – Apr 26, 44 sap days4420242024: Mar 14 – Apr 7, 43 sap days4320232023: Apr 1 – May 3, 34 sap days3420222022: Apr 4 – May 4, 27 sap days2720212021: Mar 14 – Apr 14, 56 sap days5620202020: Mar 29 – May 1, 41 sap days4120192019: Mar 29 – Apr 28, 37 sap days3720182018: Mar 31 – Apr 28, 35 sap days3520172017: Mar 8 – Apr 12, 37 sap days3720162016: Mar 16 – Apr 14, 37 sap days3720152015: Mar 12 – Apr 14, 34 sap days3420142014: Apr 2 – May 4, 27 sap days2720132013: Apr 9 – May 13, 27 sap days2720122012: Feb 21 – Mar 28, 33 sap days3320112011: Mar 24 – Apr 22, 32 sap days3220102010: Mar 5 – Apr 9, 29 sap days2920092009: Mar 23 – Apr 26, 25 sap days2520082008: Apr 3 – May 6, 37 sap days3720072007: Mar 18 – Apr 19, 33 sap days3320062006: Mar 13 – Apr 13, 20 sap days2020052005: Mar 7 – Apr 8, 34 sap days3420042004: Mar 24 – Apr 28, 42 sap days4220032003: Mar 14 – Apr 12, 28 sap days2820022002: Apr 1 – May 5, 46 sap days4620012001: Mar 26 – Apr 23, 20 sap days2020002000: Mar 18 – Apr 22, 39 sap days3919991999: Mar 22 – Apr 24, 39 sap days3919981998: Mar 17 – Apr 17, 30 sap days3019971997: Mar 29 – May 3, 34 sap days3419961996: Apr 11 – May 13, 31 sap days3119951995: Mar 28 – Apr 27, 41 sap days4119941994: Mar 20 – Apr 22, 41 sap days4119931993: Mar 24 – Apr 26, 38 sap days3819921992: Mar 28 – Apr 28, 40 sap days4019911991: Mar 10 – Apr 11, 44 sap days44
Each bar runs from the season's opening signal to its closing signal, estimated from daily temperatures at Bemidji. Dashed lines mark the typical dates. The right column counts freeze-thaw sap days from December through May.

Maple production

Beltrami County in the Census of Agriculture

USDA counts maple operations every five years. In Beltrami County the 2022 Census found 6 farms making syrup (+200% since 2017). That works out to about 0.17 gallons of syrup per tap in 2022. Among the 385 counties in this atlas, Beltrami County ranks 303 by taps.

Beltrami County maple production, 2017 and 2022 (USDA Census of Agriculture)
Census yearFarmsTapsGallons of syrupGal / tap
202266461120.17
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 Bemidji (1,345ft), 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 Minnesota's USDA record (3 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 — Minnesota, 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

Beltrami County sugaring questions

When should I tap maple trees in Beltrami County, Minnesota?
In a typical year the sap starts running around March 13 near Bemidji and the season winds down around April 15. 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 21 and as late as Apr 11.
How much maple syrup does Beltrami County produce?
The 2022 Census of Agriculture counted 6 maple operations in Beltrami County with 646 taps producing 112 gallons of syrup, ranking 20 of 41 Minnesota's counties with published tap counts.
How many sap days does Beltrami County get in a season?
On average 35.6 freeze-thaw sap days from December through May at Bemidji, of which about 8.9 are textbook days with a night in the 20s and a day in the 40s. The best season since 1991 was 2021 (56 sap days); the leanest was 2001 (20).
Where do these dates come from?
From 36 seasons of daily high and low temperatures at Bemidji (PRISM 4-km grid), scored with the same freeze-thaw rule as our live forecast, then calibrated against USDA's reported season dates for Minnesota. 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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