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Minnesota · county maple atlas

Maple sugaring in Hennepin County, Minnesota

Hennepin County had 12 maple operations and 7,200 taps in the 2022 Census, number 2 in Minnesota. Around Minneapolis, sap usually runs from February 25 to March 29. Here's the long-run pattern, 36 seasons of sap weather, and the outlook this week.
Too early to tapAbout 142 days until the usual start.
Sap starts
Feb 25
typical year
Season ends
Mar 29
about 5 weeks
Sap days / season
28.6
1991–2026 average
Taps, 2022
7,200
#2 of 41 in MN

Sap-flow outlook at Minneapolis right now

Full Minnesota forecast →

Forecast for Minneapolis, MN

Updated Oct 6, 6:44 AM EDT

Off-season for now. Sap needs freezing nights, and none are in sight. Hennepin County's season usually opens around February 25, which is 142 days away.

No freeze-thaw days in the forecast

freeze thaw 32°F

  1. WedOct 7
    53° / 72°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  2. ThuOct 8
    49° / 66°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  3. FriOct 9
    49° / 69°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  4. SatOct 10
    57° / 79°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  5. SunOct 11
    62° / 74°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  6. MonOct 12
    55° / 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 Minneapolis

Freeze-thaw weather at Minneapolis peaks in the weeks of Mar 2 to Mar 30, which hold about 44% of a season's sap days. March is the busiest month.
Typical season: Feb 25 – Mar 290246Week of Dec 1: 1.2 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 8: 1.5 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: 0.4 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 5: 0.6 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 12: 0.5 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 19: 0.3 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 26: 0.9 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 2: 1.0 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 9: 1.1 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 16: 1.4 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 23: 1.7 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 2: 2.1 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 9: 2.2 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 16: 3.3 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 23: 2.8 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 30: 2.2 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 6: 1.6 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 13: 1.1 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 20: 0.6 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 27: 0.2 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 25
Average number of freeze-thaw sap days in each week of the season at Minneapolis, 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 7; the middle half of seasons fell between Feb 27 and Mar 15. Earliest Feb 9 (2024), latest Mar 27 (2013).
Closing signal
Median Apr 7; middle half between Mar 28 and Apr 14. Earliest Mar 11 (2012), latest Apr 25 (2013).
Sap days by month
Dec17%Jan9%Feb18%Mar39%Apr17%May0%

36 seasons of sap weather

Hennepin County seasons, 1991–2026

The best sap year at Minneapolis was 2024 with 41 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, 36 sap days3620252025: Feb 26 – Apr 1, 37 sap days3720242024: Feb 9 – Mar 12, 41 sap days4120232023: Mar 12 – Apr 8, 27 sap days2720222022: Mar 19 – Apr 20, 32 sap days3220212021: Feb 26 – Apr 2, 34 sap days3420202020: Mar 8 – Apr 11, 31 sap days3120192019: Mar 14 – Apr 15, 28 sap days2820182018: Mar 26 – Apr 20, 38 sap days3820172017: Feb 25 – Mar 23, 25 sap days2520162016: Feb 21 – Mar 27, 30 sap days3020152015: Feb 28 – Apr 4, 22 sap days2220142014: Mar 18 – Apr 19, 22 sap days2220132013: Mar 27 – Apr 25, 29 sap days2920122012: Feb 13 – Mar 11, 31 sap days3120112011: Mar 9 – Apr 5, 18 sap days1820102010: Feb 27 – Mar 27, 16 sap days1620092009: Mar 13 – Apr 8, 28 sap days2820082008: Mar 19 – Apr 16, 24 sap days2420072007: Feb 25 – Mar 21, 34 sap days3420062006: Mar 6 – Apr 8, 22 sap days2220052005: Mar 2 – Mar 28, 28 sap days2820042004: Mar 3 – Apr 5, 25 sap days2520032003: Mar 5 – Apr 9, 28 sap days2820022002: Mar 11 – Apr 7, 40 sap days4020012001: Mar 16 – Apr 18, 19 sap days1920002000: Feb 20 – Mar 21, 33 sap days3319991999: Mar 2 – Mar 26, 35 sap days3519981998: Mar 17 – Mar 25, 20 sap days2019971997: Mar 15 – Apr 17, 23 sap days2319961996: Mar 21 – Apr 24, 33 sap days3319951995: Mar 5 – Apr 9, 24 sap days2419941994: Mar 10 – Apr 7, 29 sap days2919931993: Mar 16 – Apr 14, 25 sap days2519921992: Mar 15 – Apr 14, 30 sap days3019911991: Mar 2 – Apr 1, 33 sap days33
Each bar runs from the season's opening signal to its closing signal, estimated from daily temperatures at Minneapolis. Dashed lines mark the typical dates. The right column counts freeze-thaw sap days from December through May.

Maple production

Hennepin County in the Census of Agriculture

USDA counts maple operations every five years. In Hennepin County the 2022 Census found 12 farms making syrup (+71% since 2017), with taps +374% and syrup output +93% over the same five years. That works out to about 0.14 gallons of syrup per tap in 2022 (0.34 in 2017). Among the 385 counties in this atlas, Hennepin County ranks 160 by taps.

Hennepin County maple production, 2017 and 2022 (USDA Census of Agriculture)
Census yearFarmsTapsGallons of syrupGal / tap
2022127,2009940.14
201771,5205160.34

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 Minneapolis (876ft), 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

Hennepin County sugaring questions

When should I tap maple trees in Hennepin County, Minnesota?
In a typical year the sap starts running around February 25 near Minneapolis 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 9 and as late as Mar 27.
How much maple syrup does Hennepin County produce?
The 2022 Census of Agriculture counted 12 maple operations in Hennepin County with 7,200 taps producing 994 gallons of syrup, ranking 2 of 41 Minnesota's counties with published tap counts.
How many sap days does Hennepin County get in a season?
On average 28.6 freeze-thaw sap days from December through May at Minneapolis, 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 2024 (41 sap days); the leanest was 2010 (16).
Where do these dates come from?
From 36 seasons of daily high and low temperatures at Minneapolis (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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