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New York · county maple atlas

Maple sugaring in Rensselaer County, New York

Rensselaer County had 30 maple operations and 9,302 taps in the 2022 Census. Around Troy, sap usually runs from February 19 to March 27. Here's the long-run pattern, 36 seasons of sap weather, and the outlook this week.
Too early to tapAbout 136 days until the usual start.
Sap starts
Feb 19
typical year
Season ends
Mar 27
about 5 weeks
Sap days / season
39.6
1991–2026 average
Taps, 2022
9,302
#38 of 50 in NY

Sap-flow outlook at Troy right now

Full New York forecast →

Forecast for Troy, NY

Updated Oct 6, 8:37 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
    51° / 69°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  3. FriOct 9
    46° / 63°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  4. SatOct 10
    45° / 65°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  5. SunOct 11
    46° / 69°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  6. MonOct 12
    53° / 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 Troy

Freeze-thaw weather at Troy peaks in the weeks of Feb 2 to Mar 30, which hold about 55% of a season's sap days. March is the busiest month.
Typical season: Feb 19 – Mar 270246Week of Dec 1: 2.1 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 8: 2.2 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 15: 1.8 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 22: 2.0 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 29: 1.7 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 5: 1.6 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 12: 1.4 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 19: 0.9 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 26: 1.5 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 2: 1.9 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 9: 2.1 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 16: 2.7 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 23: 2.0 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 2: 2.7 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 9: 2.5 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 16: 3.0 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 23: 2.9 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 30: 2.1 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 6: 1.7 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 13: 0.7 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 20: 0.2 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 27: 0.0 sap days on averageWeek of May 4: 0.0 sap days on averageWeek of May 11: 0.0 sap days on averageWeek of May 18: 0.0 sap days on averageWeek of May 25: 0.0 sap days on averageDecJanFebMarAprMaytaps in ~Feb 19
Average number of freeze-thaw sap days in each week of the season at Troy, 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 23; the middle half of seasons fell between Feb 13 and Mar 3. Earliest Jan 26 (2017), latest Mar 12 (2015).
Closing signal
Median Mar 27; middle half between Mar 17 and Apr 4. Earliest Feb 27 (2017), latest Apr 12 (2015).
Sap days by month
Dec22%Jan15%Feb22%Mar30%Apr10%May0%

36 seasons of sap weather

Rensselaer County seasons, 1991–2026

The best sap year at Troy was 2012 with 59 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 23 – Mar 30, 37 sap days3720252025: Feb 14 – Mar 19, 28 sap days2820242024: Jan 31 – Mar 3, 33 sap days3320232023: Feb 9 – Mar 12, 47 sap days4720222022: Feb 15 – Mar 14, 34 sap days3420212021: Feb 23 – Mar 30, 38 sap days3820202020: Jan 29 – Mar 3, 41 sap days4120192019: Feb 22 – Mar 27, 38 sap days3820182018: Feb 20 – Mar 26, 36 sap days3620172017: Jan 26 – Feb 27, 43 sap days4320162016: Feb 5 – Mar 8, 47 sap days4720152015: Mar 12 – Apr 12, 25 sap days2520142014: Mar 8 – Apr 10, 43 sap days4320132013: Mar 2 – Apr 6, 46 sap days4620122012: Feb 10 – Mar 11, 59 sap days5920112011: Mar 4 – Apr 8, 32 sap days3220102010: Feb 13 – Mar 17, 25 sap days2520092009: Feb 26 – Mar 26, 37 sap days3720082008: Mar 4 – Apr 5, 49 sap days4920072007: Feb 23 – Mar 30, 43 sap days4320062006: Feb 16 – Mar 23, 43 sap days4320052005: Mar 2 – Mar 27, 38 sap days3820042004: Feb 27 – Mar 26, 33 sap days3320032003: Mar 8 – Apr 2, 31 sap days3120022002: Feb 13 – Mar 17, 57 sap days5720012001: Mar 9 – Apr 5, 33 sap days3320002000: Feb 10 – Mar 16, 42 sap days4219991999: Feb 24 – Mar 27, 43 sap days4319981998: Feb 20 – Mar 26, 38 sap days3819971997: Feb 28 – Apr 3, 36 sap days3619961996: Feb 28 – Apr 2, 37 sap days3719951995: Feb 10 – Mar 14, 48 sap days4819941994: Mar 8 – Apr 5, 34 sap days3419931993: Mar 6 – Apr 7, 35 sap days3519921992: Mar 5 – Apr 7, 52 sap days5219911991: Feb 20 – Mar 21, 44 sap days44
Each bar runs from the season's opening signal to its closing signal, estimated from daily temperatures at Troy. Dashed lines mark the typical dates. The right column counts freeze-thaw sap days from December through May.

Maple production

Rensselaer County in the Census of Agriculture

USDA counts maple operations every five years. In Rensselaer County the 2022 Census found 30 farms making syrup (-9% since 2017), with taps +89% and syrup output +139% over the same five years. That works out to about 0.23 gallons of syrup per tap in 2022 (0.18 in 2017). Among the 385 counties in this atlas, Rensselaer County ranks 141 by taps.

Rensselaer County maple production, 2017 and 2022 (USDA Census of Agriculture)
Census yearFarmsTapsGallons of syrupGal / tap
2022309,3022,1340.23
2017334,9218920.18

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 Troy (46ft), 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

Rensselaer County sugaring questions

When should I tap maple trees in Rensselaer County, New York?
In a typical year the sap starts running around February 19 near Troy and the season winds down around March 27. 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 26 and as late as Mar 12.
How much maple syrup does Rensselaer County produce?
The 2022 Census of Agriculture counted 30 maple operations in Rensselaer County with 9,302 taps producing 2,134 gallons of syrup, ranking 38 of 50 New York's counties with published tap counts.
How many sap days does Rensselaer County get in a season?
On average 39.6 freeze-thaw sap days from December through May at Troy, of which about 13.9 are textbook days with a night in the 20s and a day in the 40s. The best season since 1991 was 2012 (59 sap days); the leanest was 2010 (25).
Where do these dates come from?
From 36 seasons of daily high and low temperatures at Troy (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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