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Minnesota · county maple atlas

Maple sugaring in Wright County, Minnesota

Wright County had 11 maple operations and 700 taps in the 2022 Census. Around Buffalo, sap usually runs from March 3 to April 1. Here's the long-run pattern, 36 seasons of sap weather, and the outlook this week.
Too early to tapAbout 148 days until the usual start.
Sap starts
Mar 3
typical year
Season ends
Apr 1
about 4 weeks
Sap days / season
30.9
1991–2026 average
Taps, 2022
700
#19 of 41 in MN

Sap-flow outlook at Buffalo right now

Full Minnesota forecast →

Forecast for Buffalo, MN

Updated Oct 6, 6:44 AM EDT

Off-season for now. Sap needs freezing nights, and none are in sight. Wright County's season usually opens around March 3, which is 148 days away.

No freeze-thaw days in the forecast

freeze thaw 32°F

  1. WedOct 7
    50° / 71°

    0h below · 24h above

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

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  3. FriOct 9
    45° / 68°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  4. SatOct 10
    56° / 77°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  5. SunOct 11
    60° / 71°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  6. MonOct 12
    51° / 57°
    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 Buffalo

Freeze-thaw weather at Buffalo 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 3 – Apr 10246Week of Dec 1: 1.3 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 8: 1.4 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 15: 1.0 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 22: 0.8 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: 0.4 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: 1.4 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 2: 2.0 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 9: 2.2 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: 1.7 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 20: 1.0 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 27: 0.6 sap days on averageWeek of May 4: 0.1 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 ~Mar 3
Average number of freeze-thaw sap days in each week of the season at Buffalo, 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 13; the middle half of seasons fell between Mar 5 and Mar 20. Earliest Feb 14 (2012), latest Apr 1 (2013).
Closing signal
Median Apr 10; middle half between Apr 3 and Apr 17. Earliest Mar 11 (2012), latest Apr 28 (1996).
Sap days by month
Dec15%Jan8%Feb15%Mar37%Apr24%May1%

36 seasons of sap weather

Wright County seasons, 1991–2026

The best sap year at Buffalo was 2024 with 48 freeze-thaw days; the leanest was 1998 with 19. 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: Mar 5 – Apr 8, 41 sap days4120252025: Mar 7 – Apr 9, 39 sap days3920242024: Mar 4 – Apr 7, 48 sap days4820232023: Mar 24 – Apr 26, 20 sap days2020222022: Mar 25 – Apr 27, 32 sap days3220212021: Mar 1 – Apr 2, 46 sap days4620202020: Mar 17 – Apr 19, 34 sap days3420192019: Mar 17 – Apr 16, 31 sap days3120182018: Mar 28 – Apr 28, 37 sap days3720172017: Feb 26 – Mar 23, 27 sap days2720162016: Feb 24 – Mar 29, 34 sap days3420152015: Mar 5 – Apr 4, 26 sap days2620142014: Mar 21 – Apr 19, 23 sap days2320132013: Apr 1 – Apr 25, 22 sap days2220122012: Feb 14 – Mar 11, 32 sap days3220112011: Mar 13 – Apr 6, 19 sap days1920102010: Feb 28 – Mar 29, 20 sap days2020092009: Mar 13 – Apr 14, 30 sap days3020082008: Mar 20 – Apr 16, 26 sap days2620072007: Mar 12 – Apr 14, 30 sap days3020062006: Mar 8 – Apr 9, 26 sap days2620052005: Mar 4 – Apr 3, 30 sap days3020042004: Mar 5 – Apr 6, 29 sap days2920032003: Mar 26 – Apr 10, 27 sap days2720022002: Mar 13 – Apr 10, 44 sap days4420012001: Mar 20 – Apr 19, 20 sap days2020002000: Feb 21 – Mar 21, 36 sap days3619991999: Mar 5 – Mar 30, 41 sap days4119981998: Mar 17 – Mar 25, 19 sap days1919971997: Mar 19 – Apr 18, 25 sap days2519961996: Mar 26 – Apr 28, 40 sap days4019951995: Mar 13 – Apr 9, 29 sap days2919941994: Mar 14 – Apr 12, 35 sap days3519931993: Mar 20 – Apr 14, 27 sap days2719921992: Mar 20 – Apr 15, 33 sap days3319911991: Mar 2 – Apr 1, 35 sap days35
Each bar runs from the season's opening signal to its closing signal, estimated from daily temperatures at Buffalo. Dashed lines mark the typical dates. The right column counts freeze-thaw sap days from December through May.

Maple production

Wright County in the Census of Agriculture

USDA counts maple operations every five years. In Wright County the 2022 Census found 11 farms making syrup (-35% since 2017), with taps -59% and syrup output -67% over the same five years. That works out to about 0.17 gallons of syrup per tap in 2022 (0.21 in 2017). Among the 385 counties in this atlas, Wright County ranks 299 by taps.

Wright County maple production, 2017 and 2022 (USDA Census of Agriculture)
Census yearFarmsTapsGallons of syrupGal / tap
2022117001190.17
2017171,6923560.21

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 Buffalo (955ft), 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

Wright County sugaring questions

When should I tap maple trees in Wright County, Minnesota?
In a typical year the sap starts running around March 3 near Buffalo 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 14 and as late as Apr 1.
How much maple syrup does Wright County produce?
The 2022 Census of Agriculture counted 11 maple operations in Wright County with 700 taps producing 119 gallons of syrup, ranking 19 of 41 Minnesota's counties with published tap counts.
How many sap days does Wright County get in a season?
On average 30.9 freeze-thaw sap days from December through May at Buffalo, of which about 10.2 are textbook days with a night in the 20s and a day in the 40s. The best season since 1991 was 2024 (48 sap days); the leanest was 1998 (19).
Where do these dates come from?
From 36 seasons of daily high and low temperatures at Buffalo (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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