Skip to content
LuckySap
Get the app
Minnesota · county maple atlas

Maple sugaring in Olmsted County, Minnesota

Olmsted County had 8 maple operations and 164 taps in the 2022 Census. Around Rochester, sap usually runs from February 28 to April 1. Here's the long-run pattern, 36 seasons of sap weather, and the outlook this week.
Too early to tapAbout 145 days until the usual start.
Sap starts
Feb 28
typical year
Season ends
Apr 1
about 5 weeks
Sap days / season
31.8
1991–2026 average
Taps, 2022
164
#29 of 41 in MN

Sap-flow outlook at Rochester right now

Full Minnesota forecast →

Forecast for Rochester, MN

Updated Oct 6, 9:06 AM EDT

Off-season for now. Sap needs freezing nights, and none are in sight. Olmsted County's season usually opens around February 28, which is 145 days away.

No freeze-thaw days in the forecast

freeze thaw 32°F

  1. WedOct 7
    52° / 71°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  2. ThuOct 8
    48° / 66°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  3. FriOct 9
    46° / 69°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  4. SatOct 10
    57° / 77°

    0h below · 24h above

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

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  6. MonOct 12
    56° / 62°
    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 Rochester

Freeze-thaw weather at Rochester peaks in the weeks of Mar 9 to Apr 6, which hold about 43% of a season's sap days. March is the busiest month.
Typical season: Feb 28 – Apr 10246Week of Dec 1: 1.1 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 8: 1.6 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 15: 1.2 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 22: 1.1 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: 0.7 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: 1.1 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: 1.4 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 2: 1.9 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: 3.3 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 30: 2.7 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 6: 2.4 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 13: 1.4 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 20: 0.9 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 27: 0.7 sap days on averageWeek of May 4: 0.2 sap days on averageWeek of May 11: 0.1 sap days on averageWeek of May 18: 0.0 sap days on averageWeek of May 25: 0.0 sap days on averageDecJanFebMarAprMaytaps in ~Feb 28
Average number of freeze-thaw sap days in each week of the season at Rochester, 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 10; the middle half of seasons fell between Mar 3 and Mar 17. Earliest Feb 7 (2024), latest Mar 28 (2018).
Closing signal
Median Apr 10; middle half between Apr 1 and Apr 17. Earliest Mar 11 (2012), latest Apr 28 (2018).
Sap days by month
Dec17%Jan9%Feb15%Mar36%Apr22%May1%

36 seasons of sap weather

Olmsted County seasons, 1991–2026

The best sap year at Rochester was 2024 with 50 freeze-thaw days; the leanest was 2001 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 18 – Mar 24, 38 sap days3820252025: Feb 21 – Mar 26, 39 sap days3920242024: Feb 7 – Mar 12, 50 sap days5020232023: Mar 10 – Apr 8, 38 sap days3820222022: Mar 19 – Apr 20, 40 sap days4020212021: Feb 27 – Apr 2, 44 sap days4420202020: Mar 16 – Apr 18, 35 sap days3520192019: Mar 13 – Apr 16, 30 sap days3020182018: Mar 28 – Apr 28, 39 sap days3920172017: Feb 28 – Mar 28, 25 sap days2520162016: Feb 24 – Mar 30, 37 sap days3720152015: Mar 6 – Apr 4, 18 sap days1820142014: Mar 18 – Apr 19, 26 sap days2620132013: Mar 27 – Apr 25, 25 sap days2520122012: Feb 12 – Mar 11, 37 sap days3720112011: Mar 9 – Apr 5, 17 sap days1720102010: Mar 4 – Mar 30, 20 sap days2020092009: Mar 13 – Apr 15, 33 sap days3320082008: Mar 19 – Apr 16, 27 sap days2720072007: Mar 8 – Apr 12, 35 sap days3520062006: Mar 8 – Apr 9, 28 sap days2820052005: Mar 4 – Apr 3, 31 sap days3120042004: Mar 5 – Apr 6, 38 sap days3820032003: Mar 7 – Apr 10, 31 sap days3120022002: Mar 12 – Apr 10, 47 sap days4720012001: Mar 17 – Apr 19, 16 sap days1620002000: Feb 28 – Mar 21, 39 sap days3919991999: Mar 3 – Mar 27, 34 sap days3419981998: Mar 20 – Apr 5, 17 sap days1719971997: Mar 17 – Apr 18, 28 sap days2819961996: Mar 21 – Apr 25, 46 sap days4619951995: Mar 10 – Apr 11, 26 sap days2619941994: Mar 12 – Apr 11, 33 sap days3319931993: Mar 21 – Apr 21, 22 sap days2219921992: Mar 16 – Apr 14, 27 sap days2719911991: Mar 2 – Apr 1, 30 sap days30
Each bar runs from the season's opening signal to its closing signal, estimated from daily temperatures at Rochester. Dashed lines mark the typical dates. The right column counts freeze-thaw sap days from December through May.

Maple production

Olmsted County in the Census of Agriculture

USDA counts maple operations every five years. In Olmsted County the 2022 Census found 8 farms making syrup (+100% since 2017), with taps -34% and syrup output -35% over the same five years. That works out to about 0.21 gallons of syrup per tap in 2022 (0.21 in 2017). Among the 385 counties in this atlas, Olmsted County ranks 350 by taps.

Olmsted County maple production, 2017 and 2022 (USDA Census of Agriculture)
Census yearFarmsTapsGallons of syrupGal / tap
20228164340.21
20174250520.21

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 Rochester (1,050ft), 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

Olmsted County sugaring questions

When should I tap maple trees in Olmsted County, Minnesota?
In a typical year the sap starts running around February 28 near Rochester and the season winds down around April 1. 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 7 and as late as Mar 28.
How much maple syrup does Olmsted County produce?
The 2022 Census of Agriculture counted 8 maple operations in Olmsted County with 164 taps producing 34 gallons of syrup, ranking 29 of 41 Minnesota's counties with published tap counts.
How many sap days does Olmsted County get in a season?
On average 31.8 freeze-thaw sap days from December through May at Rochester, of which about 10.7 are textbook days with a night in the 20s and a day in the 40s. The best season since 1991 was 2024 (50 sap days); the leanest was 2001 (16).
Where do these dates come from?
From 36 seasons of daily high and low temperatures at Rochester (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.

LuckySap · free on iPhone & Android

Get a heads-up when the sap will run in Olmsted County

LuckySap watches the forecast for your trees and can ping you the night before a strong sap day, then keeps every collection and boil in one season log. Free on iPhone and Android.

Download on the App StoreGet it on Google Play