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New York · county maple atlas

Maple sugaring in Clinton County, New York

Clinton County had 64 maple operations and 365,777 taps in the 2022 Census, the most of any county in New York. Around Plattsburgh, sap usually runs from March 6 to April 9. Here's the long-run pattern, 36 seasons of sap weather, and the outlook this week.
Too early to tapAbout 151 days until the usual start.
Sap starts
Mar 6
typical year
Season ends
Apr 9
about 5 weeks
Sap days / season
32.8
1991–2026 average
Taps, 2022
365,777
#1 of 50 in NY

Sap-flow outlook at Plattsburgh right now

Full New York forecast →

Forecast for Plattsburgh, NY

Updated Oct 6, 2:25 AM EDT

Off-season for now. Sap needs freezing nights, and none are in sight. Clinton County's season usually opens around March 6, which is 151 days away.

No freeze-thaw days in the forecast

freeze thaw 32°F

  1. WedOct 7
    38° / 64°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  2. ThuOct 8
    49° / 65°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  3. FriOct 9
    44° / 58°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  4. SatOct 10
    42° / 58°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  5. SunOct 11
    43° / 67°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  6. MonOct 12
    50° / 64°
    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 Plattsburgh

Freeze-thaw weather at Plattsburgh peaks in the weeks of Mar 2 to Apr 6, which hold about 42% of a season's sap days. March is the busiest month.
Typical season: Mar 6 – Apr 90246Week of Dec 1: 1.7 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 8: 1.7 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 15: 1.4 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 22: 1.3 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 29: 1.0 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 5: 1.0 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 12: 0.9 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 19: 0.8 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 26: 0.8 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: 1.6 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 23: 1.6 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 2: 1.9 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 9: 2.2 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 16: 2.4 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 23: 2.7 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 30: 2.5 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: 0.9 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 27: 0.5 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 6
Average number of freeze-thaw sap days in each week of the season at Plattsburgh, 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 15. Earliest Feb 16 (1995), latest Mar 21 (1994).
Closing signal
Median Apr 9; middle half between Apr 3 and Apr 16. Earliest Mar 12 (2012), latest Apr 23 (2018).
Sap days by month
Dec20%Jan12%Feb17%Mar31%Apr20%May1%

36 seasons of sap weather

Clinton County seasons, 1991–2026

The best sap year at Plattsburgh was 1999 with 44 freeze-thaw days; the leanest was 2011 with 23. 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 10 – Apr 12, 28 sap days2820252025: Mar 3 – Apr 3, 31 sap days3120242024: Feb 25 – Mar 27, 32 sap days3220232023: Mar 8 – Apr 3, 38 sap days3820222022: Mar 5 – Apr 6, 37 sap days3720212021: Mar 2 – Apr 4, 26 sap days2620202020: Mar 3 – Apr 7, 36 sap days3620192019: Mar 15 – Apr 7, 33 sap days3320182018: Mar 19 – Apr 23, 35 sap days3520172017: Mar 6 – Apr 9, 26 sap days2620162016: Feb 27 – Mar 31, 38 sap days3820152015: Mar 18 – Apr 16, 24 sap days2420142014: Mar 15 – Apr 17, 25 sap days2520132013: Mar 11 – Apr 15, 41 sap days4120122012: Feb 16 – Mar 12, 43 sap days4320112011: Mar 15 – Apr 16, 23 sap days2320102010: Feb 26 – Mar 28, 26 sap days2620092009: Mar 10 – Apr 14, 38 sap days3820082008: Mar 15 – Apr 17, 33 sap days3320072007: Mar 21 – Apr 9, 25 sap days2520062006: Feb 26 – Mar 29, 31 sap days3120052005: Mar 13 – Apr 16, 39 sap days3920042004: Mar 14 – Apr 17, 27 sap days2720032003: Mar 16 – Apr 18, 27 sap days2720022002: Mar 8 – Apr 8, 38 sap days3820012001: Mar 20 – Apr 20, 28 sap days2820002000: Feb 26 – Mar 28, 31 sap days3119991999: Mar 4 – Apr 6, 44 sap days4419981998: Feb 26 – Mar 26, 32 sap days3219971997: Mar 19 – Apr 20, 36 sap days3619961996: Mar 15 – Apr 16, 35 sap days3519951995: Feb 16 – Mar 19, 42 sap days4219941994: Mar 21 – Apr 12, 25 sap days2519931993: Mar 14 – Apr 8, 29 sap days2919921992: Mar 19 – Apr 20, 38 sap days3819911991: Mar 3 – Apr 4, 39 sap days39
Each bar runs from the season's opening signal to its closing signal, estimated from daily temperatures at Plattsburgh. Dashed lines mark the typical dates. The right column counts freeze-thaw sap days from December through May.

Maple production

Clinton County in the Census of Agriculture

USDA counts maple operations every five years. In Clinton County the 2022 Census found 64 farms making syrup (-14% since 2017), with taps +3% and syrup output +7% over the same five years. That works out to about 0.22 gallons of syrup per tap in 2022 (0.21 in 2017). Among the 385 counties in this atlas, Clinton County ranks 10 by taps.

Clinton County maple production, 2017 and 2022 (USDA Census of Agriculture)
Census yearFarmsTapsGallons of syrupGal / tap
202264365,77779,2190.22
201774354,63373,9530.21

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 Plattsburgh (131ft), 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 New York's USDA record (12 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 — New York, 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

Clinton County sugaring questions

When should I tap maple trees in Clinton County, New York?
In a typical year the sap starts running around March 6 near Plattsburgh and the season winds down around April 9. 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 16 and as late as Mar 21.
How much maple syrup does Clinton County produce?
The 2022 Census of Agriculture counted 64 maple operations in Clinton County with 365,777 taps producing 79,219 gallons of syrup, ranking 1 of 50 New York's counties with published tap counts.
How many sap days does Clinton County get in a season?
On average 32.8 freeze-thaw sap days from December through May at Plattsburgh, 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 1999 (44 sap days); the leanest was 2011 (23).
Where do these dates come from?
From 36 seasons of daily high and low temperatures at Plattsburgh (PRISM 4-km grid), scored with the same freeze-thaw rule as our live forecast, then calibrated against USDA's reported season dates for New York. 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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