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Ohio · county maple atlas

Maple sugaring in Geauga County, Ohio

Geauga County had 183 maple operations and 144,446 taps in the 2022 Census, the most of any county in Ohio. Around Chardon, sap usually runs from February 26 to April 4. Here's the long-run pattern, 36 seasons of sap weather, and the outlook this week.
Too early to tapAbout 143 days until the usual start.
Sap starts
Feb 26
typical year
Season ends
Apr 4
about 5 weeks
Sap days / season
43.2
1991–2026 average
Taps, 2022
144,446
#1 of 63 in OH

Sap-flow outlook at Chardon right now

Full Ohio forecast →

Forecast for Chardon, OH

Updated Oct 6, 3:46 AM EDT

Off-season for now. Sap needs freezing nights, and none are in sight. Geauga County's season usually opens around February 26, which is 143 days away.

No freeze-thaw days in the forecast

freeze thaw 32°F

  1. WedOct 7
    45° / 71°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  2. ThuOct 8
    51° / 66°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  3. FriOct 9
    44° / 64°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  4. SatOct 10
    44° / 70°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  5. SunOct 11
    52° / 70°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  6. MonOct 12
    53° / 71°
    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 Chardon

Freeze-thaw weather at Chardon 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 26 – Apr 40246Week of Dec 1: 1.8 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 8: 2.0 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 15: 1.8 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 22: 1.7 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 29: 1.4 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 5: 1.5 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 12: 1.4 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 19: 1.1 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 26: 1.6 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 2: 2.1 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 9: 1.7 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 16: 2.3 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 23: 2.0 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 2: 2.6 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 9: 2.6 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 16: 3.0 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 23: 2.8 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 30: 3.0 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 6: 2.4 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 13: 1.6 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 20: 1.3 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: 0.1 sap days on averageWeek of May 18: 0.1 sap days on averageWeek of May 25: 0.0 sap days on averageDecJanFebMarAprMaytaps in ~Feb 26
Average number of freeze-thaw sap days in each week of the season at Chardon, 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 21; the middle half of seasons fell between Feb 10 and Mar 3. Earliest Jan 20 (2017), latest Mar 9 (1994).
Closing signal
Median Mar 25; middle half between Mar 16 and Apr 5. Earliest Feb 21 (2017), latest Apr 12 (1994).
Sap days by month
Dec19%Jan14%Feb19%Mar28%Apr19%May2%

36 seasons of sap weather

Geauga County seasons, 1991–2026

The best sap year at Chardon was 2020 with 68 freeze-thaw days; the leanest was 2011 with 26. 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 10 – Mar 3, 33 sap days3320252025: Feb 15 – Mar 22, 36 sap days3620242024: Feb 4 – Mar 3, 39 sap days3920232023: Feb 10 – Mar 16, 58 sap days5820222022: Feb 17 – Mar 21, 57 sap days5720212021: Feb 20 – Mar 21, 37 sap days3720202020: Feb 14 – Mar 20, 68 sap days6820192019: Mar 2 – Apr 4, 49 sap days4920182018: Feb 22 – Mar 26, 48 sap days4820172017: Jan 20 – Feb 21, 35 sap days3520162016: Feb 9 – Mar 14, 51 sap days5120152015: Mar 7 – Apr 6, 36 sap days3620142014: Mar 9 – Apr 7, 35 sap days3520132013: Mar 7 – Apr 7, 44 sap days4420122012: Feb 10 – Mar 12, 59 sap days5920112011: Mar 6 – Apr 6, 26 sap days2620102010: Mar 6 – Apr 1, 34 sap days3420092009: Feb 26 – Mar 31, 47 sap days4720082008: Mar 4 – Apr 5, 36 sap days3620072007: Feb 19 – Mar 22, 31 sap days3120062006: Feb 6 – Mar 11, 38 sap days3820052005: Mar 1 – Apr 5, 33 sap days3320042004: Feb 23 – Mar 25, 36 sap days3620032003: Feb 26 – Apr 1, 34 sap days3420022002: Feb 7 – Mar 12, 51 sap days5120012001: Mar 5 – Apr 5, 45 sap days4520002000: Feb 2 – Mar 8, 45 sap days4519991999: Feb 27 – Mar 30, 51 sap days5119981998: Feb 2 – Mar 8, 42 sap days4219971997: Feb 21 – Mar 25, 50 sap days5019961996: Mar 1 – Apr 5, 44 sap days4419951995: Feb 15 – Mar 19, 51 sap days5119941994: Mar 9 – Apr 12, 44 sap days4419931993: Mar 5 – Apr 5, 39 sap days3919921992: Feb 20 – Mar 26, 49 sap days4919911991: 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 Chardon. Dashed lines mark the typical dates. The right column counts freeze-thaw sap days from December through May.

Maple production

Geauga County in the Census of Agriculture

USDA counts maple operations every five years. In Geauga County the 2022 Census found 183 farms making syrup (+15% since 2017), with taps -14% and syrup output -2% over the same five years. That works out to about 0.24 gallons of syrup per tap in 2022 (0.21 in 2017). Among the 385 counties in this atlas, Geauga County ranks 22 by taps.

Geauga County maple production, 2017 and 2022 (USDA Census of Agriculture)
Census yearFarmsTapsGallons of syrupGal / tap
2022183144,44635,2300.24
2017159167,76936,0950.21

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 Chardon (1,168ft), 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 Ohio's USDA record (8 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 — Ohio, 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

Geauga County sugaring questions

When should I tap maple trees in Geauga County, Ohio?
In a typical year the sap starts running around February 26 near Chardon and the season winds down around April 4. 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 20 and as late as Mar 9.
How much maple syrup does Geauga County produce?
The 2022 Census of Agriculture counted 183 maple operations in Geauga County with 144,446 taps producing 35,230 gallons of syrup, ranking 1 of 63 Ohio's counties with published tap counts.
How many sap days does Geauga County get in a season?
On average 43.2 freeze-thaw sap days from December through May at Chardon, of which about 12.9 are textbook days with a night in the 20s and a day in the 40s. The best season since 1991 was 2020 (68 sap days); the leanest was 2011 (26).
Where do these dates come from?
From 36 seasons of daily high and low temperatures at Chardon (PRISM 4-km grid), scored with the same freeze-thaw rule as our live forecast, then calibrated against USDA's reported season dates for Ohio. 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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