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New York · county maple atlas

Maple sugaring in Ontario County, New York

Ontario County had 38 maple operations and 23,737 taps in the 2022 Census. Around Canandaigua, sap usually runs from February 20 to March 28. Here's the long-run pattern, 36 seasons of sap weather, and the outlook this week.
Too early to tapAbout 137 days until the usual start.
Sap starts
Feb 20
typical year
Season ends
Mar 28
about 5 weeks
Sap days / season
38.9
1991–2026 average
Taps, 2022
23,737
#27 of 50 in NY

Sap-flow outlook at Canandaigua right now

Full New York forecast →

Forecast for Canandaigua, NY

Updated Oct 6, 9:58 AM EDT

Off-season for now. Sap needs freezing nights, and none are in sight. Ontario County's season usually opens around February 20, which is 137 days away.

No freeze-thaw days in the forecast

freeze thaw 32°F

  1. WedOct 7
    43° / 69°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  2. ThuOct 8
    52° / 65°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  3. FriOct 9
    44° / 62°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  4. SatOct 10
    43° / 65°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  5. SunOct 11
    50° / 72°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  6. MonOct 12
    54° / 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 Canandaigua

Freeze-thaw weather at Canandaigua peaks in the weeks of Feb 9 to Apr 6, which hold about 53% of a season's sap days. March is the busiest month.
Typical season: Feb 20 – Mar 280246Week of Dec 1: 1.9 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 8: 1.9 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 15: 1.5 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 22: 2.1 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 29: 1.5 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 5: 1.6 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 12: 1.5 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 19: 1.1 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 26: 1.4 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 2: 1.5 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 9: 1.8 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 16: 2.3 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 23: 2.2 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 2: 2.4 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 9: 2.3 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 16: 2.8 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 23: 2.7 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 30: 2.3 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 6: 2.0 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 13: 0.9 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 20: 0.6 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 27: 0.5 sap days on averageWeek of May 4: 0.0 sap days on averageWeek of May 11: 0.1 sap days on averageWeek of May 18: 0.0 sap days on averageWeek of May 25: 0.0 sap days on averageDecJanFebMarAprMaytaps in ~Feb 20
Average number of freeze-thaw sap days in each week of the season at Canandaigua, 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 Feb 24; the middle half of seasons fell between Feb 15 and Mar 5. Earliest Jan 24 (2017), latest Mar 12 (2015).
Closing signal
Median Mar 28; middle half between Mar 21 and Apr 6. Earliest Feb 28 (2017), latest Apr 14 (1993).
Sap days by month
Dec21%Jan16%Feb20%Mar29%Apr14%May0%

36 seasons of sap weather

Ontario County seasons, 1991–2026

The best sap year at Canandaigua was 2012 with 61 freeze-thaw days; the leanest was 2010 with 25. 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 15 – Mar 21, 37 sap days3720252025: Feb 21 – Mar 28, 32 sap days3220242024: Jan 31 – Mar 3, 28 sap days2820232023: Feb 19 – Mar 25, 49 sap days4920222022: Feb 24 – Mar 31, 38 sap days3820212021: Feb 23 – Mar 21, 33 sap days3320202020: Feb 13 – Mar 19, 45 sap days4520192019: Mar 5 – Apr 5, 43 sap days4320182018: Feb 23 – Mar 27, 41 sap days4120172017: Jan 24 – Feb 28, 33 sap days3320162016: Feb 9 – Mar 13, 50 sap days5020152015: Mar 12 – Apr 6, 31 sap days3120142014: Mar 10 – Apr 7, 43 sap days4320132013: Mar 5 – Apr 7, 43 sap days4320122012: Feb 9 – Mar 12, 61 sap days6120112011: Mar 6 – Apr 7, 26 sap days2620102010: Feb 22 – Mar 28, 25 sap days2520092009: Feb 25 – Mar 31, 32 sap days3220082008: Mar 5 – Apr 7, 35 sap days3520072007: Feb 21 – Mar 24, 35 sap days3520062006: Feb 4 – Mar 9, 37 sap days3720052005: Mar 3 – Mar 30, 36 sap days3620042004: Feb 24 – Mar 25, 37 sap days3720032003: Mar 9 – Apr 13, 38 sap days3820022002: Feb 5 – Mar 12, 49 sap days4920012001: Mar 10 – Apr 5, 35 sap days3520002000: Feb 3 – Mar 8, 39 sap days3919991999: Feb 26 – Mar 28, 38 sap days3819981998: Feb 19 – Mar 26, 33 sap days3319971997: Feb 26 – Apr 2, 41 sap days4119961996: Mar 10 – Apr 12, 45 sap days4519951995: Feb 15 – Mar 11, 46 sap days4619941994: Mar 9 – Apr 9, 36 sap days3619931993: Mar 11 – Apr 14, 37 sap days3719921992: Mar 7 – Apr 10, 49 sap days4919911991: Feb 17 – Mar 21, 44 sap days44
Each bar runs from the season's opening signal to its closing signal, estimated from daily temperatures at Canandaigua. Dashed lines mark the typical dates. The right column counts freeze-thaw sap days from December through May.

Maple production

Ontario County in the Census of Agriculture

USDA counts maple operations every five years. In Ontario County the 2022 Census found 38 farms making syrup (+23% since 2017), with taps +107% and syrup output +63% over the same five years. That works out to about 0.23 gallons of syrup per tap in 2022 (0.29 in 2017). Among the 385 counties in this atlas, Ontario County ranks 85 by taps.

Ontario County maple production, 2017 and 2022 (USDA Census of Agriculture)
Census yearFarmsTapsGallons of syrupGal / tap
20223823,7375,4930.23
20173111,4793,3670.29

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 Canandaigua (797ft), 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

Ontario County sugaring questions

When should I tap maple trees in Ontario County, New York?
In a typical year the sap starts running around February 20 near Canandaigua and the season winds down around March 28. 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 Jan 24 and as late as Mar 12.
How much maple syrup does Ontario County produce?
The 2022 Census of Agriculture counted 38 maple operations in Ontario County with 23,737 taps producing 5,493 gallons of syrup, ranking 27 of 50 New York's counties with published tap counts.
How many sap days does Ontario County get in a season?
On average 38.9 freeze-thaw sap days from December through May at Canandaigua, of which about 13.1 are textbook days with a night in the 20s and a day in the 40s. The best season since 1991 was 2012 (61 sap days); the leanest was 2010 (25).
Where do these dates come from?
From 36 seasons of daily high and low temperatures at Canandaigua (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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