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New York · county maple atlas

Maple sugaring in Cortland County, New York

Cortland County had 14 maple operations and 15,725 taps in the 2022 Census. Around Cortland, sap usually runs from March 1 to April 4. Here's the long-run pattern, 36 seasons of sap weather, and the outlook this week.
Too early to tapAbout 146 days until the usual start.
Sap starts
Mar 1
typical year
Season ends
Apr 4
about 5 weeks
Sap days / season
38
1991–2026 average
Taps, 2022
15,725
#31 of 50 in NY

Sap-flow outlook at Cortland right now

Full New York forecast →

Forecast for Cortland, NY

Updated Oct 6, 9:14 AM EDT

No freeze-thaw days in the forecast

freeze thaw 32°F

  1. WedOct 7
    36° / 66°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  2. ThuOct 8
    48° / 65°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  3. FriOct 9
    40° / 61°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  4. SatOct 10
    39° / 64°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  5. SunOct 11
    44° / 68°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  6. MonOct 12
    50° / 67°
    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 Cortland

Freeze-thaw weather at Cortland peaks in the weeks of Mar 2 to Apr 6, which hold about 40% of a season's sap days. March is the busiest month.
Typical season: Mar 1 – Apr 40246Week of Dec 1: 1.6 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 8: 1.5 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 15: 1.5 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 22: 1.6 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 29: 1.6 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 5: 1.0 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 12: 1.1 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 19: 0.9 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 26: 1.0 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 2: 1.3 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 9: 1.6 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 16: 2.0 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 23: 1.7 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 2: 2.2 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 9: 2.4 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 16: 2.7 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 23: 2.9 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 30: 2.5 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 6: 2.7 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 13: 1.7 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 20: 1.2 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 27: 0.9 sap days on averageWeek of May 4: 0.2 sap days on averageWeek of May 11: 0.2 sap days on averageWeek of May 18: 0.1 sap days on averageWeek of May 25: 0.0 sap days on averageDecJanFebMarAprMaytaps in ~Mar 1
Average number of freeze-thaw sap days in each week of the season at Cortland, 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 5; the middle half of seasons fell between Feb 25 and Mar 12. Earliest Feb 10 (2024), latest Mar 19 (2018).
Closing signal
Median Apr 4; middle half between Mar 29 and Apr 14. Earliest Mar 13 (2012), latest Apr 23 (2018).
Sap days by month
Dec19%Jan12%Feb18%Mar29%Apr21%May2%

36 seasons of sap weather

Cortland County seasons, 1991–2026

The best sap year at Cortland was 2020 with 57 freeze-thaw days; the leanest was 2010 with 27. 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 25 – Mar 30, 29 sap days2920252025: Feb 27 – Apr 3, 35 sap days3520242024: Feb 10 – Mar 14, 32 sap days3220232023: Mar 2 – Apr 3, 48 sap days4820222022: Mar 4 – Apr 3, 40 sap days4020212021: Mar 4 – Apr 6, 33 sap days3320202020: Feb 25 – Mar 29, 57 sap days5720192019: Mar 10 – Apr 11, 35 sap days3520182018: Mar 19 – Apr 23, 40 sap days4020172017: Feb 22 – Mar 24, 32 sap days3220162016: Feb 19 – Mar 24, 43 sap days4320152015: Mar 17 – Apr 16, 27 sap days2720142014: Mar 14 – Apr 18, 41 sap days4120132013: Mar 13 – Apr 7, 37 sap days3720122012: Feb 13 – Mar 13, 54 sap days5420112011: Mar 15 – Apr 16, 30 sap days3020102010: Mar 6 – Mar 28, 27 sap days2720092009: Mar 6 – Apr 10, 38 sap days3820082008: Mar 9 – Apr 5, 36 sap days3620072007: Feb 28 – Mar 31, 38 sap days3820062006: Feb 24 – Mar 30, 38 sap days3820052005: Mar 7 – Apr 9, 36 sap days3620042004: Mar 9 – Apr 13, 35 sap days3520032003: Mar 12 – Apr 15, 30 sap days3020022002: Feb 26 – Apr 2, 50 sap days5020012001: Mar 18 – Apr 20, 31 sap days3120002000: Feb 16 – Mar 21, 42 sap days4219991999: Feb 28 – Mar 28, 44 sap days4419981998: Feb 21 – Mar 26, 34 sap days3419971997: Mar 8 – Apr 12, 34 sap days3419961996: Mar 16 – Apr 17, 42 sap days4219951995: Feb 17 – Mar 20, 53 sap days5319941994: Mar 12 – Apr 9, 38 sap days3819931993: Mar 11 – Apr 15, 36 sap days3619921992: Mar 15 – Apr 16, 36 sap days3619911991: Mar 1 – Apr 3, 38 sap days38
Each bar runs from the season's opening signal to its closing signal, estimated from daily temperatures at Cortland. Dashed lines mark the typical dates. The right column counts freeze-thaw sap days from December through May.

Maple production

Cortland County in the Census of Agriculture

USDA counts maple operations every five years. In Cortland County the 2022 Census found 14 farms making syrup (-59% since 2017), with taps -68% and syrup output -77% over the same five years. That works out to about 0.26 gallons of syrup per tap in 2022 (0.36 in 2017). Among the 385 counties in this atlas, Cortland County ranks 105 by taps.

Cortland County maple production, 2017 and 2022 (USDA Census of Agriculture)
Census yearFarmsTapsGallons of syrupGal / tap
20221415,7254,0990.26
20173449,00517,5040.36

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 Cortland (1,348ft), 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

Cortland County sugaring questions

When should I tap maple trees in Cortland County, New York?
In a typical year the sap starts running around March 1 near Cortland and the season winds down around April 4. 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 10 and as late as Mar 19.
How much maple syrup does Cortland County produce?
The 2022 Census of Agriculture counted 14 maple operations in Cortland County with 15,725 taps producing 4,099 gallons of syrup, ranking 31 of 50 New York's counties with published tap counts.
How many sap days does Cortland County get in a season?
On average 38 freeze-thaw sap days from December through May at Cortland, of which about 11.3 are textbook days with a night in the 20s and a day in the 40s. The best season since 1991 was 2020 (57 sap days); the leanest was 2010 (27).
Where do these dates come from?
From 36 seasons of daily high and low temperatures at Cortland (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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