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Nova Scotia · maple atlas

Maple sugaring in Colchester, Nova Scotia

Colchester is a county in Nova Scotia. Statistics Canada's 2021 Census of Agriculture counted 16 farms reporting maple taps here (taps withheld by Statistics Canada). Around Truro, sap usually runs from March 17 to April 19. Here's the long-run pattern, 35 seasons of sap weather, and the outlook this week.
Too early to tapAbout 161 days until the usual start.
Sap starts
Mar 17
weather estimate
Season ends
Apr 19
about 5 weeks
Sap days / season
44
1991–2025 average
Taps, 2021
withheld
by Statistics Canada

Sap-flow outlook at Truro right now

Full Nova Scotia forecast →

Forecast for Truro, NS

Updated Oct 7, 10:00 AM EDT

Off-season for now. Sap needs freezing nights, and none are in sight. Colchester's season usually opens around March 17, which is 161 days away.

No freeze-thaw days in the forecast

freeze thaw 0 °C

  1. ThuOct 8
    7° / 19°
    No refreeze forecast
  2. FriOct 9
    7° / 18°
    No refreeze forecast
  3. SatOct 10
    8° / 12°
    No refreeze forecast
  4. SunOct 11
    5° / 10°
    No refreeze forecast
  5. MonOct 12
    9° / 14°
    No refreeze forecast
  6. TueOct 13
    9° / 12°
    No refreeze forecast

Data: Environment and Climate Change Canada. Verdicts use freeze-thaw thresholds from maple field research; your woods may run a little differently.

When the sap runs

The sugaring calendar at Truro

Freeze-thaw weather at Truro peaks in the weeks of Mar 9 to Apr 20, which hold about 44% of a season's sap days. March is the busiest month. Typical dates are a weather estimate (no official season record for this province): the median of this division's own weather signals.
Typical season: Mar 17 – Apr 190246Week of Dec 1: 2.0 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 8: 1.8 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 15: 1.7 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 22: 1.5 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 29: 1.5 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 5: 1.3 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 12: 1.2 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 19: 1.1 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 26: 1.1 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 2: 1.2 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 9: 1.5 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 16: 1.5 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 23: 1.9 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 2: 2.1 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 9: 2.5 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 16: 2.6 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: 3.5 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 13: 2.6 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 20: 2.4 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 27: 1.7 sap days on averageWeek of May 4: 0.7 sap days on averageWeek of May 11: 0.3 sap days on averageWeek of May 18: 0.2 sap days on averageWeek of May 25: 0.1 sap days on averageDecJanFebMarAprMaytaps in ~Mar 17
Average number of freeze-thaw sap days in each week of the season at Truro, 1991–2025 (Daymet temperatures). A sap day is an overnight low under −1 °C (30.2 °F) followed by an afternoon high over +3 °C (37.4 °F). The shaded band is the typical season.

Year-to-year spread

Opening signal
Median Mar 17; the middle half of seasons fell between Mar 11 and Mar 22. Earliest Feb 28 (2000), latest Apr 4 (2015).
Closing signal
Median Apr 19; middle half between Apr 12 and Apr 23. Earliest Mar 29 (2010), latest May 9 (2015).
Sap days by month
Dec17%Jan13%Feb14%Mar26%Apr26%May4%

35 seasons of sap weather

Colchester seasons, 1991–2025

The best sap year at Truro was 2012 with 64 freeze-thaw days; the leanest was 1998 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 days20252025: Mar 12 – Apr 12, 39 sap days3920242024: Mar 10 – Apr 12, 47 sap days4720232023: Mar 13 – Apr 15, 51 sap days5120222022: Mar 11 – Apr 12, 45 sap days4520212021: Mar 6 – Apr 10, 33 sap days3320202020: Mar 29 – May 1, 55 sap days5520192019: Mar 18 – Apr 18, 43 sap days4320182018: Mar 22 – Apr 24, 59 sap days5920172017: Mar 17 – Apr 21, 43 sap days4320162016: Mar 15 – Apr 19, 53 sap days5320152015: Apr 4 – May 9, 37 sap days3720142014: Mar 18 – Apr 21, 38 sap days3820132013: Mar 21 – Apr 23, 45 sap days4520122012: Mar 10 – Apr 14, 64 sap days6420112011: Mar 22 – Apr 23, 36 sap days3620102010: Mar 1 – Mar 29, 34 sap days3420092009: Mar 22 – Apr 21, 50 sap days5020082008: Mar 16 – Apr 18, 38 sap days3820072007: Mar 20 – Apr 22, 50 sap days5020062006: Mar 2 – Apr 4, 35 sap days3520052005: Mar 20 – Apr 23, 36 sap days3620042004: Mar 27 – Apr 27, 33 sap days3320032003: Mar 24 – Apr 21, 40 sap days4020022002: Mar 12 – Apr 12, 44 sap days4420012001: Mar 30 – May 1, 40 sap days4020002000: Feb 28 – Apr 3, 48 sap days4819991999: Mar 6 – Apr 7, 61 sap days6119981998: Mar 11 – Apr 12, 29 sap days2919971997: Apr 1 – May 6, 49 sap days4919961996: Mar 13 – Apr 17, 44 sap days4419951995: Mar 18 – Apr 19, 46 sap days4619941994: Mar 11 – Apr 13, 40 sap days4019931993: Mar 17 – Apr 19, 37 sap days3719921992: Mar 30 – May 3, 45 sap days4519911991: Mar 21 – Apr 20, 53 sap days53
Each bar runs from the season's opening signal to its closing signal, estimated from daily Daymet temperatures at Truro. Dashed lines mark the typical dates. The right column counts freeze-thaw sap days from December through May.

Maple production

Colchester in the Census of Agriculture

Statistics Canada counts the farms that report maple taps in its Census of Agriculture every five years. In 2021 it counted 16 in Colchester; in 2016, 18 farms and 23,499 taps.

Over the five years the farm count changed −11%. Statistics Canada cautions that 2021 and 2016 are not strictly comparable: the census-farm definition changed in 2021, and farms were assigned to their main location more strictly.

Statistics Canada doesn't publish syrup volume by census division, so the Canadian pages show farms and taps, not gallons or litres.

Colchester maple production, 2016 and 2021 (Statistics Canada, Census of Agriculture)
Census yearFarms reporting tapsTaps
202116withheld by Statistics Canada
20161823,499
  • "Withheld by Statistics Canada": Statistics Canada suppressed the value as too unreliable to publish (F). The farm count is still published.

Nearby

Neighboring maple divisions

Distances are between reference towns; typical dates are each division's own estimate.

About these numbers

The season dates are estimated from 35 seasons of daily high and low temperatures for the Daymet 1-km grid cell at Truro, the division's largest population centre in the 2021 Census; the cell sits at 26 m (85 ft). Each day is scored with the same freeze-thaw rule as our live forecast: a sap day is an overnight low under −1 °C (30.2 °F) followed by an afternoon high over +3 °C (37.4 °F). A season's closing signal is the last sap day before accumulated warmth reaches a threshold, and the opening signal sits 35 days before that, never earlier than the first real freeze-thaw week. The rule was calibrated on 117 state-seasons of USDA-reported dates in the US and is applied here unchanged. Nova Scotia has no official season record, so the typical dates are a weather estimate. Production figures are copied from Statistics Canada as published. Full method, the Daymet checks and the Quebec validation → Run a sugarhouse here? Put this sap forecast on your own website →

Sources · 7

  1. 1.Maple taps, Census of Agriculture, 2021 (Table 32-10-0362-01) · Statistics Canada
  2. 2.Maple taps, Census of Agriculture, 2011 and 2016 (Table 32-10-0423-01) · Statistics Canada
  3. 3.Daymet: Daily Surface Weather Data on a 1-km Grid for North America, Version 4 R1 · ORNL DAAC
  4. 4.Sap flow in sugar maple: timing and weather drivers (Frontiers in Agronomy, 2025) · de Lima Santos et al.
  5. 5.2021 Census cartographic boundary files (census divisions, population centres) · Statistics Canada
  6. 6.Population and dwelling counts, 2021 Census (Tables 98-10-0002-01 and 98-10-0011-01) · Statistics Canada
Show 1 more
  1. 7.GeoNames geographical database (CA) · GeoNames

Licences and attribution

  • Adapted from Statistics Canada, Census of Agriculture 2021 and 2016 (Tables 32-10-0362-01 and 32-10-0423-01), 2021 Census population and dwelling counts (Tables 98-10-0002-01 and 98-10-0011-01) and 2021 Census cartographic boundary files. This does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada of this product.
  • Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Canada.
  • Thornton, M.M., R. Shrestha, Y. Wei, P.E. Thornton, S-C. Kao, and B.E. Wilson. 2022. Daymet: Daily Surface Weather Data on a 1-km Grid for North America, Version 4 R1. ORNL DAAC, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, USA. https://doi.org/10.3334/ORNLDAAC/2129
  • Place coordinates: GeoNames (geonames.org), CC BY 4.0.

FAQ

Colchester sugaring questions

When should I tap maple trees in Colchester, Nova Scotia?
In a typical year the sap starts running around March 17 near Truro and the season winds down around April 19. Have your taps in a day or two before the first forecast string of nights below −1 °C and days above +3 °C. In the past 35 seasons the weather signal came as early as Feb 28 and as late as Apr 4.
How much maple syrup does Colchester produce?
Statistics Canada doesn't publish syrup volume by census division. Its 2021 Census of Agriculture counted 16 farms reporting maple taps in Colchester; the tap count was withheld by Statistics Canada.
How many sap days does Colchester get in a season?
On average 44 freeze-thaw sap days from December through May at Truro, of which about 17.5 are textbook days with a night between about −7 and −2 °C and a day between 4 and 9 °C. The best season since 1991 was 2012 (64 sap days); the leanest was 1998 (29).
Where do these dates come from?
From 35 seasons of daily high and low temperatures at Truro (Daymet 1-km grid), scored with the same freeze-thaw rule as our live forecast. Nova Scotia has no official season record, so they are a weather estimate. They describe a typical year at one point in the division; your sugarbush, slope and elevation can shift them by days.

Nova Scotia

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