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Nova Scotia · maple atlas

Maple sugaring in Cumberland, Nova Scotia

Cumberland is a county in Nova Scotia. Statistics Canada's 2021 Census of Agriculture counted 31 farms reporting maple taps and 257,477 taps here, the most of any census division in Nova Scotia. Around Amherst, sap usually runs from March 19 to April 20. Here's the long-run pattern, 35 seasons of sap weather, and the outlook this week.
Too early to tapAbout 163 days until the usual start.
Sap starts
Mar 19
weather estimate
Season ends
Apr 20
about 5 weeks
Sap days / season
38.3
1991–2025 average
Taps, 2021
257,477
#1 of 2 in NS

Sap-flow outlook at Amherst right now

Full Nova Scotia forecast →

Forecast for Amherst, NS

Updated Oct 7, 10:00 AM EDT

Off-season for now. Sap needs freezing nights, and none are in sight. Cumberland's season usually opens around March 19, which is 163 days away.

No freeze-thaw days in the forecast

freeze thaw 0 °C

  1. ThuOct 8
    7° / 18°
    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 Amherst

Freeze-thaw weather at Amherst peaks in the weeks of Mar 9 to Apr 20, which hold about 48% of a season's sap days. April 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 19 – Apr 200246Week of Dec 1: 1.6 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 8: 1.5 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 15: 1.4 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 22: 1.2 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 29: 1.5 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 5: 0.9 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 12: 1.1 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 19: 1.0 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 26: 0.7 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 2: 0.8 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 9: 1.2 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 16: 1.2 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 23: 1.7 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 2: 1.7 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: 2.9 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 30: 2.9 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 6: 3.3 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 13: 2.6 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 20: 2.1 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 27: 1.7 sap days on averageWeek of May 4: 0.4 sap days on averageWeek of May 11: 0.2 sap days on averageWeek of May 18: 0.2 sap days on averageWeek of May 25: 0.1 sap days on averageDecJanFebMarAprMaytaps in ~Mar 19
Average number of freeze-thaw sap days in each week of the season at Amherst, 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 19; the middle half of seasons fell between Mar 13 and Mar 23. Earliest Mar 2 (2000), latest Apr 4 (1992).
Closing signal
Median Apr 20; middle half between Apr 12 and Apr 26. Earliest Mar 29 (2000), latest May 6 (1992).
Sap days by month
Dec16%Jan12%Feb13%Mar27%Apr29%May4%

35 seasons of sap weather

Cumberland seasons, 1991–2025

The best sap year at Amherst was 2012 with 54 freeze-thaw days; the leanest was 1998 with 23. 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 15 – Apr 12, 33 sap days3320242024: Mar 11 – Apr 11, 51 sap days5120232023: Mar 18 – Apr 15, 40 sap days4020222022: Mar 12 – Apr 12, 44 sap days4420212021: Mar 12 – Apr 16, 28 sap days2820202020: Mar 29 – May 1, 47 sap days4720192019: Mar 18 – Apr 18, 33 sap days3320182018: Mar 23 – Apr 23, 51 sap days5120172017: Mar 20 – Apr 24, 39 sap days3920162016: Mar 18 – Apr 22, 52 sap days5220152015: Apr 3 – Apr 26, 33 sap days3320142014: Mar 19 – Apr 19, 34 sap days3420132013: Mar 21 – Apr 23, 38 sap days3820122012: Mar 12 – Apr 16, 54 sap days5420112011: Mar 23 – Apr 23, 30 sap days3020102010: Mar 2 – Mar 29, 30 sap days3020092009: Mar 23 – Apr 27, 47 sap days4720082008: Mar 19 – Apr 21, 35 sap days3520072007: Mar 23 – Apr 27, 49 sap days4920062006: Mar 4 – Apr 4, 37 sap days3720052005: Mar 20 – Apr 22, 40 sap days4020042004: Mar 28 – Apr 27, 31 sap days3120032003: Mar 25 – Apr 20, 32 sap days3220022002: Mar 13 – Apr 12, 37 sap days3720012001: Mar 30 – May 1, 36 sap days3620002000: Mar 2 – Mar 29, 34 sap days3419991999: Mar 8 – Apr 7, 47 sap days4719981998: Mar 14 – Apr 12, 23 sap days2319971997: Apr 1 – Apr 28, 36 sap days3619961996: Mar 18 – Apr 17, 32 sap days3219951995: Mar 22 – Apr 26, 40 sap days4019941994: Mar 12 – Apr 9, 31 sap days3119931993: Mar 18 – Apr 16, 33 sap days3319921992: Apr 4 – May 6, 38 sap days3819911991: Mar 24 – Apr 28, 45 sap days45
Each bar runs from the season's opening signal to its closing signal, estimated from daily Daymet temperatures at Amherst. Dashed lines mark the typical dates. The right column counts freeze-thaw sap days from December through May.

Maple production

Cumberland 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 31 in Cumberland, with 257,477 taps; in 2016, 34 farms and 305,310 taps. Among Nova Scotia's 2 census divisions with a published tap count, Cumberland ranks 1st, and 41st of the 94 in this atlas.

Over the five years the farm count changed −9% and taps −16%. 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.

Cumberland maple production, 2016 and 2021 (Statistics Canada, Census of Agriculture)
Census yearFarms reporting tapsTaps
202131257,477
201634305,310

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 Amherst, the division's most populous municipality in the 2021 Census; the cell sits at 29 m (95 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

Cumberland sugaring questions

When should I tap maple trees in Cumberland, Nova Scotia?
In a typical year the sap starts running around March 19 near Amherst and the season winds down around April 20. 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 Mar 2 and as late as Apr 4.
How much maple syrup does Cumberland produce?
Statistics Canada doesn't publish syrup volume by census division. Its 2021 Census of Agriculture counted 31 farms reporting 257,477 maple taps in Cumberland, number 1 of 2 Nova Scotia divisions with a published count.
How many sap days does Cumberland get in a season?
On average 38.3 freeze-thaw sap days from December through May at Amherst, of which about 16 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 (54 sap days); the leanest was 1998 (23).
Where do these dates come from?
From 35 seasons of daily high and low temperatures at Amherst (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.

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