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New York · county maple atlas

Maple sugaring in Essex County, New York

Essex County had 30 maple operations and 56,746 taps in the 2022 Census. Around Elizabethtown, sap usually runs from March 7 to April 12. Here's the long-run pattern, 36 seasons of sap weather, and the outlook this week.
Too early to tapAbout 152 days until the usual start.
Sap starts
Mar 7
typical year
Season ends
Apr 12
about 5 weeks
Sap days / season
44.6
1991–2026 average
Taps, 2022
56,746
#18 of 50 in NY

Sap-flow outlook at Elizabethtown right now

Full New York forecast →

Forecast for Elizabethtown, NY

Updated Oct 6, 2:25 AM EDT

No freeze-thaw days in the forecast

freeze thaw 32°F

  1. WedOct 7
    33° / 67°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  2. ThuOct 8
    47° / 66°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  3. FriOct 9
    41° / 59°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  4. SatOct 10
    40° / 60°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  5. SunOct 11
    42° / 69°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  6. MonOct 12
    49° / 68°
    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 Elizabethtown

Freeze-thaw weather at Elizabethtown peaks in the weeks of Mar 2 to Apr 13, which hold about 49% of a season's sap days. March is the busiest month.
Typical season: Mar 7 – Apr 120246Week of Dec 1: 2.0 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 8: 2.0 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 15: 1.6 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 22: 1.3 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 29: 1.3 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 5: 1.1 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 12: 1.0 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 19: 0.9 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: 1.3 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 16: 2.0 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 23: 2.2 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 2: 2.5 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 9: 2.9 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 16: 3.1 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 23: 3.6 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 30: 3.8 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 6: 3.5 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 13: 2.4 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 20: 1.9 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 27: 1.2 sap days on averageWeek of May 4: 0.4 sap days on averageWeek of May 11: 0.3 sap days on averageWeek of May 18: 0.1 sap days on averageWeek of May 25: 0.0 sap days on averageDecJanFebMarAprMaytaps in ~Mar 7
Average number of freeze-thaw sap days in each week of the season at Elizabethtown, 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 11; the middle half of seasons fell between Mar 4 and Mar 16. Earliest Feb 16 (2012), latest Mar 22 (2015).
Closing signal
Median Apr 12; middle half between Apr 6 and Apr 17. Earliest Mar 13 (2012), latest Apr 24 (2018).
Sap days by month
Dec17%Jan10%Feb15%Mar31%Apr26%May2%

36 seasons of sap weather

Essex County seasons, 1991–2026

The best sap year at Elizabethtown was 2016 with 61 freeze-thaw days; the leanest was 2011 with 28. 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 11 – Apr 12, 34 sap days3420252025: Mar 9 – Apr 11, 38 sap days3820242024: Mar 4 – Apr 8, 40 sap days4020232023: Mar 10 – Apr 10, 50 sap days5020222022: Mar 8 – Apr 11, 42 sap days4220212021: Mar 4 – Apr 6, 31 sap days3120202020: Mar 6 – Apr 8, 61 sap days6120192019: Mar 16 – Apr 17, 40 sap days4020182018: Mar 22 – Apr 24, 47 sap days4720172017: Mar 7 – Apr 9, 36 sap days3620162016: Feb 27 – Apr 1, 61 sap days6120152015: Mar 22 – Apr 16, 30 sap days3020142014: Mar 18 – Apr 20, 43 sap days4320132013: Mar 15 – Apr 15, 49 sap days4920122012: Feb 16 – Mar 13, 58 sap days5820112011: Mar 16 – Apr 16, 28 sap days2820102010: Feb 26 – Mar 28, 40 sap days4020092009: Mar 11 – Apr 15, 45 sap days4520082008: Mar 15 – Apr 17, 37 sap days3720072007: Mar 16 – Apr 20, 39 sap days3920062006: Feb 28 – Apr 3, 42 sap days4220052005: Mar 13 – Apr 17, 53 sap days5320042004: Mar 15 – Apr 18, 41 sap days4120032003: Mar 16 – Apr 18, 34 sap days3420022002: Mar 9 – Apr 11, 58 sap days5820012001: Mar 21 – Apr 21, 46 sap days4620002000: Feb 26 – Apr 2, 47 sap days4719991999: Mar 5 – Apr 6, 55 sap days5519981998: Mar 2 – Mar 26, 47 sap days4719971997: Mar 20 – Apr 23, 49 sap days4919961996: Mar 17 – Apr 16, 45 sap days4519951995: Feb 23 – Mar 29, 50 sap days5019941994: Mar 16 – Apr 19, 40 sap days4019931993: Mar 13 – Apr 8, 46 sap days4619921992: Mar 20 – Apr 19, 56 sap days5619911991: Mar 3 – Apr 4, 46 sap days46
Each bar runs from the season's opening signal to its closing signal, estimated from daily temperatures at Elizabethtown. Dashed lines mark the typical dates. The right column counts freeze-thaw sap days from December through May.

Maple production

Essex County in the Census of Agriculture

USDA counts maple operations every five years. In Essex County the 2022 Census found 30 farms making syrup (-12% since 2017), with taps +15% and syrup output +47% over the same five years. That works out to about 0.36 gallons of syrup per tap in 2022 (0.28 in 2017). Among the 385 counties in this atlas, Essex County ranks 52 by taps.

Essex County maple production, 2017 and 2022 (USDA Census of Agriculture)
Census yearFarmsTapsGallons of syrupGal / tap
20223056,74620,4670.36
20173449,31213,8900.28

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 Elizabethtown (807ft), 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

Essex County sugaring questions

When should I tap maple trees in Essex County, New York?
In a typical year the sap starts running around March 7 near Elizabethtown and the season winds down around April 12. 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 22.
How much maple syrup does Essex County produce?
The 2022 Census of Agriculture counted 30 maple operations in Essex County with 56,746 taps producing 20,467 gallons of syrup, ranking 18 of 50 New York's counties with published tap counts.
How many sap days does Essex County get in a season?
On average 44.6 freeze-thaw sap days from December through May at Elizabethtown, of which about 12.4 are textbook days with a night in the 20s and a day in the 40s. The best season since 1991 was 2016 (61 sap days); the leanest was 2011 (28).
Where do these dates come from?
From 36 seasons of daily high and low temperatures at Elizabethtown (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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