Skip to content
LuckySap
Get the app
New York · county maple atlas

Maple sugaring in Lewis County, New York

Lewis County had 86 maple operations and 243,375 taps in the 2022 Census, number 4 in New York. Around Lowville, sap usually runs from March 10 to April 15. Here's the long-run pattern, 36 seasons of sap weather, and the outlook this week.
Too early to tapAbout 155 days until the usual start.
Sap starts
Mar 10
typical year
Season ends
Apr 15
about 5 weeks
Sap days / season
36
1991–2026 average
Taps, 2022
243,375
#4 of 50 in NY

Sap-flow outlook at Lowville right now

Full New York forecast →

Forecast for Lowville, NY

Updated Oct 6, 9:58 AM EDT

No freeze-thaw days in the forecast

freeze thaw 32°F

  1. WedOct 7
    36° / 63°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  2. ThuOct 8
    48° / 61°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  3. FriOct 9
    40° / 56°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  4. SatOct 10
    38° / 59°

    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 Lowville

Freeze-thaw weather at Lowville peaks in the weeks of Mar 9 to Apr 13, which hold about 45% of a season's sap days. March is the busiest month.
Typical season: Mar 10 – Apr 150246Week of Dec 1: 1.4 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 8: 1.5 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 15: 1.2 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 22: 1.2 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 29: 1.1 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 5: 0.9 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 12: 0.8 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 19: 0.8 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 26: 0.7 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: 1.6 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 23: 1.7 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 2: 1.6 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 9: 2.1 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 16: 2.4 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 23: 3.0 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 30: 3.0 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 6: 3.3 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 13: 2.3 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 20: 1.9 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 27: 1.0 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 10
Average number of freeze-thaw sap days in each week of the season at Lowville, 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 14; the middle half of seasons fell between Mar 5 and Mar 20. Earliest Feb 16 (2012), latest Mar 26 (2018).
Closing signal
Median Apr 15; middle half between Apr 8 and Apr 18. Earliest Mar 12 (2012), latest Apr 26 (2015).
Sap days by month
Dec16%Jan10%Feb14%Mar29%Apr29%May2%

36 seasons of sap weather

Lewis County seasons, 1991–2026

The best sap year at Lowville was 2020 with 62 freeze-thaw days; the leanest was 2001 with 24. 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 9 – Apr 13, 35 sap days3520252025: Mar 10 – Apr 14, 35 sap days3520242024: Feb 24 – Mar 30, 39 sap days3920232023: Mar 10 – Apr 10, 46 sap days4620222022: Mar 9 – Apr 12, 41 sap days4120212021: Mar 5 – Apr 6, 32 sap days3220202020: Mar 4 – Apr 8, 62 sap days6220192019: Mar 16 – Apr 18, 38 sap days3820182018: Mar 26 – Apr 24, 43 sap days4320172017: Mar 7 – Apr 10, 41 sap days4120162016: Feb 27 – Apr 1, 45 sap days4520152015: Mar 24 – Apr 26, 30 sap days3020142014: Mar 20 – Apr 21, 43 sap days4320132013: Mar 20 – Apr 23, 32 sap days3220122012: Feb 16 – Mar 12, 44 sap days4420112011: Mar 20 – Apr 23, 26 sap days2620102010: Feb 27 – Mar 28, 29 sap days2920092009: Mar 16 – Apr 16, 35 sap days3520082008: Mar 15 – Apr 17, 28 sap days2820072007: Mar 18 – Apr 20, 33 sap days3320062006: Mar 5 – Apr 9, 38 sap days3820052005: Mar 14 – Apr 16, 41 sap days4120042004: Mar 16 – Apr 17, 28 sap days2820032003: Mar 17 – Apr 18, 24 sap days2420022002: Mar 11 – Apr 8, 40 sap days4020012001: Mar 20 – Apr 20, 24 sap days2420002000: Mar 1 – Mar 28, 26 sap days2619991999: Mar 13 – Apr 15, 44 sap days4419981998: Mar 1 – Mar 26, 35 sap days3519971997: Mar 21 – Apr 16, 31 sap days3119961996: Mar 20 – Apr 19, 39 sap days3919951995: Mar 7 – Apr 11, 41 sap days4119941994: Mar 21 – Apr 23, 30 sap days3019931993: Mar 16 – Apr 14, 29 sap days2919921992: Mar 22 – Apr 17, 30 sap days3019911991: Mar 4 – Apr 4, 39 sap days39
Each bar runs from the season's opening signal to its closing signal, estimated from daily temperatures at Lowville. Dashed lines mark the typical dates. The right column counts freeze-thaw sap days from December through May.

Maple production

Lewis County in the Census of Agriculture

USDA counts maple operations every five years. In Lewis County the 2022 Census found 86 farms making syrup (-10% since 2017), with taps +23% and syrup output +34% over the same five years. That works out to about 0.23 gallons of syrup per tap in 2022 (0.21 in 2017). Among the 385 counties in this atlas, Lewis County ranks 17 by taps.

Lewis County maple production, 2017 and 2022 (USDA Census of Agriculture)
Census yearFarmsTapsGallons of syrupGal / tap
202286243,37555,5660.23
201796198,57441,5060.21

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 Lowville (991ft), 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

Lewis County sugaring questions

When should I tap maple trees in Lewis County, New York?
In a typical year the sap starts running around March 10 near Lowville and the season winds down around April 15. 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 26.
How much maple syrup does Lewis County produce?
The 2022 Census of Agriculture counted 86 maple operations in Lewis County with 243,375 taps producing 55,566 gallons of syrup, ranking 4 of 50 New York's counties with published tap counts.
How many sap days does Lewis County get in a season?
On average 36 freeze-thaw sap days from December through May at Lowville, of which about 11.7 are textbook days with a night in the 20s and a day in the 40s. The best season since 1991 was 2020 (62 sap days); the leanest was 2001 (24).
Where do these dates come from?
From 36 seasons of daily high and low temperatures at Lowville (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.

LuckySap · free on iPhone & Android

Get a heads-up when the sap will run in Lewis County

LuckySap watches the forecast for your trees and can ping you the night before a strong sap day, then keeps every collection and boil in one season log. Free on iPhone and Android.

Download on the App StoreGet it on Google Play