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Minnesota · county maple atlas

Maple sugaring in Carver County, Minnesota

Carver County had 7 maple operations and 908 taps in the 2022 Census. Around Chaska, sap usually runs from February 26 to March 28. Here's the long-run pattern, 36 seasons of sap weather, and the outlook this week.
Too early to tapAbout 143 days until the usual start.
Sap starts
Feb 26
typical year
Season ends
Mar 28
about 4 weeks
Sap days / season
31.1
1991–2026 average
Taps, 2022
908
#16 of 41 in MN

Sap-flow outlook at Chaska right now

Full Minnesota forecast →

Forecast for Chaska, MN

Updated Oct 6, 6:44 AM EDT

Off-season for now. Sap needs freezing nights, and none are in sight. Carver County's season usually opens around February 26, which is 143 days away.

No freeze-thaw days in the forecast

freeze thaw 32°F

  1. WedOct 7
    51° / 72°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  2. ThuOct 8
    46° / 66°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  3. FriOct 9
    45° / 70°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  4. SatOct 10
    56° / 79°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  5. SunOct 11
    61° / 73°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  6. MonOct 12
    53° / 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 Chaska

Freeze-thaw weather at Chaska peaks in the weeks of Mar 2 to Apr 6, which hold about 47% of a season's sap days. March is the busiest month.
Typical season: Feb 26 – Mar 280246Week of Dec 1: 1.4 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 8: 1.8 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 15: 1.1 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 22: 1.0 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 29: 0.5 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 5: 0.7 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 12: 0.6 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 19: 0.5 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 26: 1.0 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 2: 1.0 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 9: 1.2 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 16: 1.5 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 23: 1.8 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 2: 2.2 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 9: 2.3 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 16: 3.1 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 23: 2.8 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 30: 2.4 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 6: 1.9 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 13: 1.3 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 20: 0.6 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 27: 0.4 sap days on averageWeek of May 4: 0.0 sap days on averageWeek of May 11: 0.0 sap days on averageWeek of May 18: 0.0 sap days on averageWeek of May 25: 0.0 sap days on averageDecJanFebMarAprMaytaps in ~Feb 26
Average number of freeze-thaw sap days in each week of the season at Chaska, 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 8; the middle half of seasons fell between Feb 27 and Mar 16. Earliest Feb 9 (2024), latest Apr 6 (2003).
Closing signal
Median Apr 6; middle half between Mar 27 and Apr 15. Earliest Mar 11 (2012), latest Apr 25 (2013).
Sap days by month
Dec18%Jan10%Feb17%Mar36%Apr19%May1%

36 seasons of sap weather

Carver County seasons, 1991–2026

The best sap year at Chaska was 2002 with 48 freeze-thaw days; the leanest was 2001 with 17. 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 22 – Mar 29, 39 sap days3920252025: Feb 21 – Mar 27, 42 sap days4220242024: Feb 9 – Mar 12, 46 sap days4620232023: Mar 11 – Apr 8, 34 sap days3420222022: Mar 18 – Apr 20, 36 sap days3620212021: Feb 22 – Mar 27, 37 sap days3720202020: Mar 5 – Apr 6, 34 sap days3420192019: Mar 13 – Apr 15, 29 sap days2920182018: Mar 26 – Apr 21, 43 sap days4320172017: Feb 25 – Mar 23, 29 sap days2920162016: Feb 20 – Mar 27, 35 sap days3520152015: Feb 27 – Apr 3, 22 sap days2220142014: Mar 17 – Apr 19, 28 sap days2820132013: Mar 28 – Apr 25, 27 sap days2720122012: Feb 13 – Mar 11, 34 sap days3420112011: Mar 9 – Apr 6, 20 sap days2020102010: Feb 28 – Mar 27, 17 sap days1720092009: Mar 13 – Apr 11, 31 sap days3120082008: Mar 19 – Apr 16, 28 sap days2820072007: Feb 24 – Mar 21, 35 sap days3520062006: Mar 7 – Apr 9, 26 sap days2620052005: Mar 1 – Apr 3, 34 sap days3420042004: Mar 3 – Apr 6, 29 sap days2920032003: Apr 6 – Apr 8, 29 sap days2920022002: Mar 11 – Apr 7, 48 sap days4820012001: Mar 16 – Apr 18, 17 sap days1720002000: Feb 20 – Mar 21, 34 sap days3419991999: Mar 2 – Mar 26, 34 sap days3419981998: Mar 17 – Mar 25, 20 sap days2019971997: Mar 16 – Apr 17, 25 sap days2519961996: Mar 21 – Apr 24, 33 sap days3319951995: Mar 4 – Apr 6, 24 sap days2419941994: Mar 11 – Apr 11, 32 sap days3219931993: Mar 18 – Apr 21, 25 sap days2519921992: Mar 13 – Apr 14, 29 sap days2919911991: Mar 1 – Apr 2, 34 sap days34
Each bar runs from the season's opening signal to its closing signal, estimated from daily temperatures at Chaska. Dashed lines mark the typical dates. The right column counts freeze-thaw sap days from December through May.

Maple production

Carver County in the Census of Agriculture

USDA counts maple operations every five years. In Carver County the 2022 Census found 7 farms making syrup (+250% since 2017). That works out to about 0.19 gallons of syrup per tap in 2022. Among the 385 counties in this atlas, Carver County ranks 288 by taps.

Carver County maple production, 2017 and 2022 (USDA Census of Agriculture)
Census yearFarmsTapsGallons of syrupGal / tap
202279081720.19
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 Chaska (728ft), 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

Carver County sugaring questions

When should I tap maple trees in Carver County, Minnesota?
In a typical year the sap starts running around February 26 near Chaska and the season winds down around March 28. 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 9 and as late as Apr 6.
How much maple syrup does Carver County produce?
The 2022 Census of Agriculture counted 7 maple operations in Carver County with 908 taps producing 172 gallons of syrup, ranking 16 of 41 Minnesota's counties with published tap counts.
How many sap days does Carver County get in a season?
On average 31.1 freeze-thaw sap days from December through May at Chaska, of which about 11.1 are textbook days with a night in the 20s and a day in the 40s. The best season since 1991 was 2002 (48 sap days); the leanest was 2001 (17).
Where do these dates come from?
From 36 seasons of daily high and low temperatures at Chaska (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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