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Minnesota · county maple atlas

Maple sugaring in Rice County, Minnesota

Rice County had 7 maple operations and 1,545 taps in the 2022 Census. Around Faribault, sap usually runs from February 28 to March 31. 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
Mar 31
about 4 weeks
Sap days / season
32.4
1991–2026 average
Taps, 2022
1,545
#13 of 41 in MN

Sap-flow outlook at Faribault right now

Full Minnesota forecast →

Forecast for Faribault, MN

Updated Oct 6, 6:44 AM EDT

Off-season for now. Sap needs freezing nights, and none are in sight. Rice 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
    51° / 71°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  2. ThuOct 8
    46° / 65°

    0h below · 24h above

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

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  4. SatOct 10
    57° / 78°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  5. SunOct 11
    62° / 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 Faribault

Freeze-thaw weather at Faribault peaks in the weeks of Mar 2 to Apr 6, which hold about 48% of a season's sap days. March is the busiest month.
Typical season: Feb 28 – Mar 310246Week of Dec 1: 1.4 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: 0.9 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 29: 0.5 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 5: 0.8 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: 1.0 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 16: 1.5 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 23: 1.4 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 2: 2.0 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 9: 2.3 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 16: 3.0 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 23: 3.1 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 30: 2.8 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: 1.1 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 Faribault, 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 2 and Mar 17. Earliest Feb 13 (2012), latest Mar 31 (2013).
Closing signal
Median Apr 9; middle half between Apr 1 and Apr 17. Earliest Mar 11 (2012), latest Apr 28 (2018).
Sap days by month
Dec16%Jan9%Feb15%Mar35%Apr23%May2%

36 seasons of sap weather

Rice County seasons, 1991–2026

The best sap year at Faribault was 2002 with 54 freeze-thaw days; the leanest was 2010 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 23 – Mar 29, 41 sap days4120252025: Feb 26 – Apr 1, 39 sap days3920242024: Feb 23 – Mar 30, 48 sap days4820232023: Mar 11 – Apr 8, 24 sap days2420222022: Mar 20 – Apr 20, 41 sap days4120212021: Feb 28 – Apr 2, 43 sap days4320202020: Mar 15 – Apr 18, 36 sap days3620192019: Mar 15 – Apr 16, 30 sap days3020182018: Mar 28 – Apr 28, 38 sap days3820172017: Feb 27 – Apr 1, 29 sap days2920162016: Feb 23 – Mar 30, 38 sap days3820152015: Mar 6 – Apr 4, 24 sap days2420142014: Mar 17 – Apr 18, 29 sap days2920132013: Mar 31 – Apr 25, 26 sap days2620122012: Feb 13 – Mar 11, 32 sap days3220112011: Mar 10 – Apr 6, 21 sap days2120102010: Mar 5 – Mar 30, 17 sap days1720092009: Mar 13 – Apr 14, 31 sap days3120082008: Mar 19 – Apr 16, 31 sap days3120072007: Mar 9 – Apr 13, 36 sap days3620062006: Mar 8 – Apr 9, 25 sap days2520052005: Mar 3 – Apr 3, 35 sap days3520042004: Mar 4 – Apr 6, 38 sap days3820032003: Mar 5 – Apr 9, 35 sap days3520022002: Mar 11 – Apr 10, 54 sap days5420012001: Mar 17 – Apr 19, 18 sap days1820002000: Feb 20 – Mar 18, 37 sap days3719991999: Mar 2 – Mar 27, 36 sap days3619981998: Mar 19 – Mar 25, 21 sap days2119971997: Mar 17 – Apr 18, 28 sap days2819961996: Mar 21 – Apr 25, 40 sap days4019951995: Mar 9 – Apr 6, 23 sap days2319941994: Mar 12 – Apr 11, 34 sap days3419931993: Mar 20 – Apr 21, 22 sap days2219921992: Mar 15 – Apr 14, 31 sap days3119911991: Mar 2 – Apr 2, 34 sap days34
Each bar runs from the season's opening signal to its closing signal, estimated from daily temperatures at Faribault. Dashed lines mark the typical dates. The right column counts freeze-thaw sap days from December through May.

Maple production

Rice County in the Census of Agriculture

USDA counts maple operations every five years. In Rice County the 2022 Census found 7 farms making syrup (-30% since 2017), with taps +36% and syrup output +68% over the same five years. That works out to about 0.40 gallons of syrup per tap in 2022 (0.32 in 2017). Among the 385 counties in this atlas, Rice County ranks 264 by taps.

Rice County maple production, 2017 and 2022 (USDA Census of Agriculture)
Census yearFarmsTapsGallons of syrupGal / tap
202271,5456100.40
2017101,1403630.32

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 Faribault (1,096ft), 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

Rice County sugaring questions

When should I tap maple trees in Rice County, Minnesota?
In a typical year the sap starts running around February 28 near Faribault and the season winds down around March 31. 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 31.
How much maple syrup does Rice County produce?
The 2022 Census of Agriculture counted 7 maple operations in Rice County with 1,545 taps producing 610 gallons of syrup, ranking 13 of 41 Minnesota's counties with published tap counts.
How many sap days does Rice County get in a season?
On average 32.4 freeze-thaw sap days from December through May at Faribault, 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 (54 sap days); the leanest was 2010 (17).
Where do these dates come from?
From 36 seasons of daily high and low temperatures at Faribault (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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