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New York · county maple atlas

Maple sugaring in Hamilton County, New York

Hamilton County had 8 maple operations and 5,255 taps in the 2022 Census. Around Lake Pleasant, sap usually runs from March 17 to April 22. Here's the long-run pattern, 36 seasons of sap weather, and the outlook this week.
Too early to tapAbout 162 days until the usual start.
Sap starts
Mar 17
typical year
Season ends
Apr 22
about 5 weeks
Sap days / season
44.9
1991–2026 average
Taps, 2022
5,255
#42 of 50 in NY

Sap-flow outlook at Lake Pleasant right now

Full New York forecast →

Forecast for Lake Pleasant, NY

Updated Oct 6, 8:37 AM EDT

1 sap day in the next 6

freeze thaw 32°F

  1. WedOct 7
    29° / 62°

    5h below · 17h above

    Sap likely
  2. ThuOct 8
    44° / 60°

    0h below · 24h above

    Run tapering
  3. FriOct 9
    36° / 56°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  4. SatOct 10
    34° / 59°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  5. SunOct 11
    37° / 65°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  6. MonOct 12
    45° / 65°
    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 Lake Pleasant

Freeze-thaw weather at Lake Pleasant peaks in the weeks of Mar 16 to Apr 27, which hold about 53% of a season's sap days. April is the busiest month.
Typical season: Mar 17 – Apr 220246Week of Dec 1: 1.0 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 8: 1.4 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 15: 1.1 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 22: 1.1 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 29: 1.0 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 5: 0.6 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 12: 0.5 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 19: 0.6 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 26: 0.6 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 2: 0.9 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 9: 0.9 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 16: 1.5 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: 2.4 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 16: 2.8 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 23: 3.5 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 30: 3.9 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 6: 4.0 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 13: 4.0 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 20: 3.1 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 27: 2.4 sap days on averageWeek of May 4: 2.0 sap days on averageWeek of May 11: 1.4 sap days on averageWeek of May 18: 0.7 sap days on averageWeek of May 25: 0.3 sap days on averageDecJanFebMarAprMaytaps in ~Mar 17
Average number of freeze-thaw sap days in each week of the season at Lake Pleasant, 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 21; the middle half of seasons fell between Mar 13 and Mar 26. Earliest Mar 3 (2010), latest Mar 31 (2018).
Closing signal
Median Apr 22; middle half between Apr 17 and Apr 26. Earliest Mar 30 (2010), latest May 2 (2015).
Sap days by month
Dec11%Jan6%Feb11%Mar27%Apr34%May11%

36 seasons of sap weather

Hamilton County seasons, 1991–2026

The best sap year at Lake Pleasant was 1999 with 62 freeze-thaw days; the leanest was 1993 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 12 – Apr 13, 35 sap days3520252025: Mar 21 – Apr 24, 32 sap days3220242024: Mar 13 – Apr 17, 47 sap days4720232023: Mar 15 – Apr 19, 49 sap days4920222022: Mar 21 – Apr 24, 59 sap days5920212021: Mar 10 – Apr 8, 36 sap days3620202020: Mar 28 – Apr 30, 55 sap days5520192019: Mar 22 – Apr 18, 29 sap days2920182018: Mar 31 – Apr 27, 42 sap days4220172017: Mar 14 – Apr 18, 41 sap days4120162016: Mar 18 – Apr 22, 61 sap days6120152015: Mar 30 – May 2, 37 sap days3720142014: Mar 28 – Apr 28, 43 sap days4320132013: Mar 27 – Apr 28, 39 sap days3920122012: Mar 8 – Apr 8, 51 sap days5120112011: Mar 24 – Apr 22, 30 sap days3020102010: Mar 3 – Mar 30, 43 sap days4320092009: Mar 21 – Apr 24, 48 sap days4820082008: Mar 19 – Apr 19, 44 sap days4420072007: Mar 25 – Apr 26, 46 sap days4620062006: Mar 12 – Apr 14, 44 sap days4420052005: Mar 18 – Apr 22, 52 sap days5220042004: Mar 19 – Apr 22, 39 sap days3920032003: Mar 23 – Apr 25, 35 sap days3520022002: Mar 13 – Apr 11, 57 sap days5720012001: Mar 27 – Apr 29, 37 sap days3720002000: Mar 12 – Apr 16, 49 sap days4919991999: Mar 21 – Apr 25, 62 sap days6219981998: Mar 10 – Apr 14, 46 sap days4619971997: Mar 27 – Apr 27, 51 sap days5119961996: Mar 27 – Apr 30, 50 sap days5019951995: Mar 16 – Apr 18, 56 sap days5619941994: Mar 25 – Apr 24, 45 sap days4519931993: Mar 22 – Apr 19, 28 sap days2819921992: Mar 29 – May 1, 44 sap days4419911991: Mar 12 – Apr 15, 53 sap days53
Each bar runs from the season's opening signal to its closing signal, estimated from daily temperatures at Lake Pleasant. Dashed lines mark the typical dates. The right column counts freeze-thaw sap days from December through May.

Maple production

Hamilton County in the Census of Agriculture

USDA counts maple operations every five years. In Hamilton County the 2022 Census found 8 farms making syrup (-11% since 2017), with taps -41% and syrup output +6% over the same five years. That works out to about 0.26 gallons of syrup per tap in 2022 (0.14 in 2017). Among the 385 counties in this atlas, Hamilton County ranks 186 by taps.

Hamilton County maple production, 2017 and 2022 (USDA Census of Agriculture)
Census yearFarmsTapsGallons of syrupGal / tap
202285,2551,3580.26
201798,8801,2850.14

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 Lake Pleasant (1,939ft), 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

Hamilton County sugaring questions

When should I tap maple trees in Hamilton County, New York?
In a typical year the sap starts running around March 17 near Lake Pleasant and the season winds down around April 22. 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 Mar 3 and as late as Mar 31.
How much maple syrup does Hamilton County produce?
The 2022 Census of Agriculture counted 8 maple operations in Hamilton County with 5,255 taps producing 1,358 gallons of syrup, ranking 42 of 50 New York's counties with published tap counts.
How many sap days does Hamilton County get in a season?
On average 44.9 freeze-thaw sap days from December through May at Lake Pleasant, of which about 11.6 are textbook days with a night in the 20s and a day in the 40s. The best season since 1991 was 1999 (62 sap days); the leanest was 1993 (28).
Where do these dates come from?
From 36 seasons of daily high and low temperatures at Lake Pleasant (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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