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Nova Scotia · maple atlas

Maple sugaring in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia

Lunenburg is a county in Nova Scotia. Statistics Canada's 2021 Census of Agriculture counted 9 farms reporting maple taps here (taps withheld by Statistics Canada). Around Bridgewater, sap usually runs from March 9 to April 10. Here's the long-run pattern, 35 seasons of sap weather, and the outlook this week.
Too early to tapAbout 153 days until the usual start.
Sap starts
Mar 9
weather estimate
Season ends
Apr 10
about 5 weeks
Sap days / season
43.8
1991–2025 average
Taps, 2021
withheld
by Statistics Canada

Sap-flow outlook at Bridgewater right now

Full Nova Scotia forecast →

Forecast for Bridgewater, NS

Updated Oct 7, 10:00 AM EDT

Off-season for now. Sap needs freezing nights, and none are in sight. Lunenburg's season usually opens around March 9, which is 153 days away.

No freeze-thaw days in the forecast

freeze thaw 0 °C

  1. ThuOct 8
    8° / 19°
    No refreeze forecast
  2. FriOct 9
    9° / 18°
    No refreeze forecast
  3. SatOct 10
    9° / 13°
    No refreeze forecast
  4. SunOct 11
    5° / 14°
    No refreeze forecast
  5. MonOct 12
    9° / 15°
    No refreeze forecast
  6. TueOct 13
    9° / 13°
    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 Bridgewater

Freeze-thaw weather at Bridgewater peaks in the weeks of Mar 2 to Apr 6, which hold about 38% 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 9 – Apr 100246Week of Dec 1: 2.1 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 8: 2.2 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 15: 2.1 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 22: 1.8 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 29: 1.9 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: 1.3 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 26: 1.4 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 2: 1.6 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 9: 1.8 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 16: 2.1 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 23: 1.9 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 2: 2.5 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 9: 2.9 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 16: 2.9 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 23: 3.2 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 30: 2.7 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 6: 2.5 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 13: 1.7 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 20: 1.0 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 27: 0.9 sap days on averageWeek of May 4: 0.3 sap days on averageWeek of May 11: 0.0 sap days on averageWeek of May 18: 0.1 sap days on averageWeek of May 25: 0.0 sap days on averageDecJanFebMarAprMaytaps in ~Mar 9
Average number of freeze-thaw sap days in each week of the season at Bridgewater, 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 9; the middle half of seasons fell between Feb 28 and Mar 14. Earliest Feb 16 (2012), latest Mar 29 (2015).
Closing signal
Median Apr 10; middle half between Apr 3 and Apr 17. Earliest Mar 17 (2012), latest Apr 26 (2003).
Sap days by month
Dec21%Jan15%Feb17%Mar29%Apr17%May1%

35 seasons of sap weather

Lunenburg seasons, 1991–2025

The best sap year at Bridgewater was 1991 with 63 freeze-thaw days; the leanest was 2006 with 21. 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 3 – Apr 3, 36 sap days3620242024: Feb 26 – Apr 2, 38 sap days3820232023: Feb 27 – Apr 3, 41 sap days4120222022: Feb 25 – Mar 30, 35 sap days3520212021: Feb 25 – Mar 30, 31 sap days3120202020: Mar 5 – Apr 9, 56 sap days5620192019: Mar 12 – Apr 5, 39 sap days3920182018: Feb 28 – Apr 3, 50 sap days5020172017: Mar 9 – Apr 4, 44 sap days4420162016: Mar 4 – Apr 4, 49 sap days4920152015: Mar 29 – Apr 20, 40 sap days4020142014: Mar 8 – Apr 10, 36 sap days3620132013: Mar 10 – Apr 12, 49 sap days4920122012: Feb 16 – Mar 17, 56 sap days5620112011: Mar 14 – Apr 16, 41 sap days4120102010: Feb 25 – Mar 26, 30 sap days3020092009: Mar 18 – Apr 20, 49 sap days4920082008: Mar 12 – Apr 16, 39 sap days3920072007: Mar 13 – Apr 12, 37 sap days3720062006: Mar 5 – Mar 28, 21 sap days2120052005: Mar 13 – Apr 17, 46 sap days4620042004: Mar 20 – Apr 22, 37 sap days3720032003: Mar 23 – Apr 26, 42 sap days4220022002: Mar 8 – Apr 12, 52 sap days5220012001: Mar 23 – Apr 21, 49 sap days4920002000: Feb 23 – Mar 29, 51 sap days5119991999: Feb 22 – Mar 28, 61 sap days6119981998: Feb 27 – Mar 26, 39 sap days3919971997: Mar 21 – Apr 24, 52 sap days5219961996: Mar 13 – Apr 17, 49 sap days4919951995: Mar 9 – Apr 12, 50 sap days5019941994: Mar 6 – Apr 9, 38 sap days3819931993: Mar 14 – Apr 16, 47 sap days4719921992: Mar 21 – Apr 21, 40 sap days4019911991: Mar 11 – Apr 15, 63 sap days63
Each bar runs from the season's opening signal to its closing signal, estimated from daily Daymet temperatures at Bridgewater. Dashed lines mark the typical dates. The right column counts freeze-thaw sap days from December through May.

Maple production

Lunenburg 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 9 in Lunenburg; in 2016, 20 farms and 4,926 taps.

Over the five years the farm count changed −55%. 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.

Lunenburg maple production, 2016 and 2021 (Statistics Canada, Census of Agriculture)
Census yearFarms reporting tapsTaps
20219withheld by Statistics Canada
2016204,926
  • "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 Bridgewater, the division's largest population centre in the 2021 Census; the cell sits at 16 m (52 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

Lunenburg sugaring questions

When should I tap maple trees in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia?
In a typical year the sap starts running around March 9 near Bridgewater and the season winds down around April 10. 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 16 and as late as Mar 29.
How much maple syrup does Lunenburg produce?
Statistics Canada doesn't publish syrup volume by census division. Its 2021 Census of Agriculture counted 9 farms reporting maple taps in Lunenburg; the tap count was withheld by Statistics Canada.
How many sap days does Lunenburg get in a season?
On average 43.8 freeze-thaw sap days from December through May at Bridgewater, of which about 19.9 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 1991 (63 sap days); the leanest was 2006 (21).
Where do these dates come from?
From 35 seasons of daily high and low temperatures at Bridgewater (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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