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

Maple sugaring in Tioga County, New York

Tioga County had 22 maple operations and 27,738 taps in the 2022 Census. Around Owego, sap usually runs from February 24 to March 31. Here's the long-run pattern, 36 seasons of sap weather, and the outlook this week.
Too early to tapAbout 141 days until the usual start.
Sap starts
Feb 24
typical year
Season ends
Mar 31
about 5 weeks
Sap days / season
49.5
1991–2026 average
Taps, 2022
27,738
#26 of 50 in NY

Sap-flow outlook at Owego right now

Full New York forecast →

Forecast for Owego, NY

Updated Oct 6, 9:14 AM EDT

Off-season for now. Sap needs freezing nights, and none are in sight. Tioga County's season usually opens around February 24, which is 141 days away.

No freeze-thaw days in the forecast

freeze thaw 32°F

  1. WedOct 7
    38° / 68°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  2. ThuOct 8
    49° / 70°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  3. FriOct 9
    43° / 65°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  4. SatOct 10
    41° / 67°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  5. SunOct 11
    45° / 71°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  6. MonOct 12
    51° / 69°
    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 Owego

Freeze-thaw weather at Owego peaks in the weeks of Feb 16 to Apr 6, which hold about 48% of a season's sap days. March is the busiest month.
Typical season: Feb 24 – Mar 310246Week of Dec 1: 2.3 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 8: 2.2 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 15: 1.9 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 22: 2.2 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 29: 2.1 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 5: 1.5 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: 1.3 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 2: 2.0 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 9: 1.9 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 16: 2.6 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 23: 2.4 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 2: 2.7 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 9: 2.9 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 16: 3.4 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 23: 3.6 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 30: 3.1 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 6: 3.1 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 13: 2.0 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 20: 1.6 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 27: 1.3 sap days on averageWeek of May 4: 0.3 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 ~Feb 24
Average number of freeze-thaw sap days in each week of the season at Owego, 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 28; the middle half of seasons fell between Feb 21 and Mar 9. Earliest Feb 6 (2024), latest Mar 16 (2015).
Closing signal
Median Mar 31; middle half between Mar 26 and Apr 9. Earliest Mar 13 (2012), latest Apr 19 (2015).
Sap days by month
Dec19%Jan13%Feb18%Mar28%Apr20%May2%

36 seasons of sap weather

Tioga County seasons, 1991–2026

The best sap year at Owego was 2020 with 74 freeze-thaw days; the leanest was 2003 with 29. 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 19 – Mar 26, 38 sap days3820252025: Feb 21 – Mar 28, 38 sap days3820242024: Feb 6 – Mar 13, 38 sap days3820232023: Feb 20 – Mar 27, 62 sap days6220222022: Feb 26 – Apr 2, 49 sap days4920212021: Feb 28 – Apr 4, 48 sap days4820202020: Feb 15 – Mar 22, 74 sap days7420192019: Mar 5 – Apr 6, 46 sap days4620182018: Mar 10 – Apr 12, 55 sap days5520172017: Feb 19 – Mar 24, 46 sap days4620162016: Feb 12 – Mar 14, 61 sap days6120152015: Mar 16 – Apr 19, 37 sap days3720142014: Mar 14 – Apr 18, 48 sap days4820132013: Mar 11 – Apr 7, 47 sap days4720122012: Feb 12 – Mar 13, 68 sap days6820112011: Mar 10 – Apr 9, 42 sap days4220102010: Feb 23 – Mar 28, 39 sap days3920092009: Feb 28 – Mar 26, 44 sap days4420082008: Mar 8 – Apr 5, 51 sap days5120072007: Feb 26 – Apr 1, 45 sap days4520062006: Feb 23 – Mar 30, 53 sap days5320052005: Mar 6 – Apr 10, 57 sap days5720042004: Feb 28 – Mar 26, 41 sap days4120032003: Mar 9 – Apr 13, 29 sap days2920022002: Feb 22 – Mar 29, 68 sap days6820012001: Mar 12 – Apr 5, 43 sap days4320002000: Feb 15 – Mar 21, 49 sap days4919991999: Feb 28 – Mar 28, 57 sap days5719981998: Feb 21 – Mar 26, 52 sap days5219971997: Feb 28 – Apr 3, 52 sap days5219961996: Mar 11 – Apr 12, 47 sap days4719951995: Feb 16 – Mar 19, 58 sap days5819941994: Mar 11 – Apr 11, 47 sap days4719931993: Mar 11 – Apr 14, 45 sap days4519921992: Mar 9 – Apr 11, 49 sap days4919911991: Feb 21 – Mar 22, 59 sap days59
Each bar runs from the season's opening signal to its closing signal, estimated from daily temperatures at Owego. Dashed lines mark the typical dates. The right column counts freeze-thaw sap days from December through May.

Maple production

Tioga County in the Census of Agriculture

USDA counts maple operations every five years. In Tioga County the 2022 Census found 22 farms making syrup (-19% since 2017), with taps +149% and syrup output +337% over the same five years. That works out to about 0.25 gallons of syrup per tap in 2022 (0.14 in 2017). Among the 385 counties in this atlas, Tioga County ranks 82 by taps.

Tioga County maple production, 2017 and 2022 (USDA Census of Agriculture)
Census yearFarmsTapsGallons of syrupGal / tap
20222227,7387,0580.25
20172711,1221,6140.14

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 Owego (1,040ft), 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

Tioga County sugaring questions

When should I tap maple trees in Tioga County, New York?
In a typical year the sap starts running around February 24 near Owego and the season winds down around March 31. 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 6 and as late as Mar 16.
How much maple syrup does Tioga County produce?
The 2022 Census of Agriculture counted 22 maple operations in Tioga County with 27,738 taps producing 7,058 gallons of syrup, ranking 26 of 50 New York's counties with published tap counts.
How many sap days does Tioga County get in a season?
On average 49.5 freeze-thaw sap days from December through May at Owego, of which about 14.2 are textbook days with a night in the 20s and a day in the 40s. The best season since 1991 was 2020 (74 sap days); the leanest was 2003 (29).
Where do these dates come from?
From 36 seasons of daily high and low temperatures at Owego (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 Tioga 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