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Minnesota · county maple atlas

Maple sugaring in Dakota County, Minnesota

Dakota County had 6 maple operations and 288 taps in the 2022 Census. Around Hastings, sap usually runs from March 1 to March 29. Here's the long-run pattern, 36 seasons of sap weather, and the outlook this week.
Too early to tapAbout 146 days until the usual start.
Sap starts
Mar 1
typical year
Season ends
Mar 29
about 4 weeks
Sap days / season
32.1
1991–2026 average
Taps, 2022
288
#24 of 41 in MN

Sap-flow outlook at Hastings right now

Full Minnesota forecast →

Forecast for Hastings, MN

Updated Oct 6, 6:44 AM EDT

Off-season for now. Sap needs freezing nights, and none are in sight. Dakota County's season usually opens around March 1, which is 146 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
    47° / 66°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  3. FriOct 9
    45° / 69°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  4. SatOct 10
    55° / 79°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  5. SunOct 11
    61° / 74°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  6. MonOct 12
    54° / 61°
    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 Hastings

Freeze-thaw weather at Hastings peaks in the weeks of Mar 2 to Apr 6, which hold about 50% of a season's sap days. March is the busiest month.
Typical season: Mar 1 – Mar 290246Week of Dec 1: 1.4 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 8: 1.6 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: 0.4 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 26: 1.0 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 2: 1.1 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 9: 1.3 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 16: 1.5 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 23: 1.7 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 2: 2.3 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 9: 2.5 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 16: 3.4 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 23: 3.3 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: 1.3 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 20: 0.4 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: 0.0 sap days on averageWeek of May 18: 0.0 sap days on averageWeek of May 25: 0.0 sap days on averageDecJanFebMarAprMaytaps in ~Mar 1
Average number of freeze-thaw sap days in each week of the season at Hastings, 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 11; the middle half of seasons fell between Mar 1 and Mar 18. Earliest Feb 13 (2012), latest Mar 30 (2013).
Closing signal
Median Apr 7; middle half between Mar 27 and Apr 16. Earliest Mar 11 (2012), latest Apr 25 (2013).
Sap days by month
Dec17%Jan9%Feb17%Mar39%Apr18%May0%

36 seasons of sap weather

Dakota County seasons, 1991–2026

The best sap year at Hastings was 2002 with 46 freeze-thaw days; the leanest was 2010 with 16. 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 23 – Mar 29, 38 sap days3820252025: Feb 22 – Mar 27, 40 sap days4020242024: Feb 13 – Mar 20, 46 sap days4620232023: Mar 10 – Apr 8, 32 sap days3220222022: Mar 19 – Apr 20, 39 sap days3920212021: Feb 23 – Mar 27, 34 sap days3420202020: Mar 6 – Apr 7, 35 sap days3520192019: Mar 15 – Apr 16, 33 sap days3320182018: Mar 27 – Apr 21, 46 sap days4620172017: Feb 27 – Mar 23, 30 sap days3020162016: Feb 23 – Mar 30, 33 sap days3320152015: Mar 3 – Apr 4, 24 sap days2420142014: Mar 20 – Apr 19, 24 sap days2420132013: Mar 30 – Apr 25, 30 sap days3020122012: Feb 13 – Mar 11, 30 sap days3020112011: Mar 11 – Apr 6, 21 sap days2120102010: Mar 2 – Mar 27, 16 sap days1620092009: Mar 12 – Apr 9, 31 sap days3120082008: Mar 19 – Apr 16, 25 sap days2520072007: Feb 27 – Mar 21, 38 sap days3820062006: Mar 7 – Apr 9, 28 sap days2820052005: Mar 3 – Apr 3, 33 sap days3320042004: Mar 4 – Apr 6, 33 sap days3320032003: Mar 26 – Apr 10, 29 sap days2920022002: Mar 12 – Apr 7, 46 sap days4620012001: Mar 17 – Apr 18, 19 sap days1920002000: Feb 20 – Mar 18, 39 sap days3919991999: Mar 2 – Mar 27, 38 sap days3819981998: Mar 17 – Mar 25, 21 sap days2119971997: Mar 16 – Apr 18, 27 sap days2719961996: Mar 22 – Apr 24, 38 sap days3819951995: Mar 22 – Apr 9, 27 sap days2719941994: Mar 12 – Apr 11, 35 sap days3519931993: Mar 20 – Apr 21, 29 sap days2919921992: Mar 16 – Apr 15, 31 sap days3119911991: Mar 1 – Apr 1, 36 sap days36
Each bar runs from the season's opening signal to its closing signal, estimated from daily temperatures at Hastings. Dashed lines mark the typical dates. The right column counts freeze-thaw sap days from December through May.

Maple production

Dakota County in the Census of Agriculture

USDA counts maple operations every five years. In Dakota County the 2022 Census found 6 farms making syrup (+500% since 2017). That works out to about 0.21 gallons of syrup per tap in 2022. Among the 385 counties in this atlas, Dakota County ranks 335 by taps.

Dakota County maple production, 2017 and 2022 (USDA Census of Agriculture)
Census yearFarmsTapsGallons of syrupGal / tap
20226288610.21
20171withheldwithheld—

“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 Hastings (725ft), 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

Dakota County sugaring questions

When should I tap maple trees in Dakota County, Minnesota?
In a typical year the sap starts running around March 1 near Hastings and the season winds down around March 29. 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 13 and as late as Mar 30.
How much maple syrup does Dakota County produce?
The 2022 Census of Agriculture counted 6 maple operations in Dakota County with 288 taps producing 61 gallons of syrup, ranking 24 of 41 Minnesota's counties with published tap counts.
How many sap days does Dakota County get in a season?
On average 32.1 freeze-thaw sap days from December through May at Hastings, of which about 10.3 are textbook days with a night in the 20s and a day in the 40s. The best season since 1991 was 2002 (46 sap days); the leanest was 2010 (16).
Where do these dates come from?
From 36 seasons of daily high and low temperatures at Hastings (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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