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Ohio · county maple atlas

Maple sugaring in Highland County, Ohio

Highland County had 18 maple operations and 5,882 taps in the 2022 Census. Around Hillsboro, sap usually runs from February 6 to March 16. Here's the long-run pattern, 36 seasons of sap weather, and the outlook this week.
Too early to tapAbout 123 days until the usual start.
Sap starts
Feb 6
typical year
Season ends
Mar 16
about 5 weeks
Sap days / season
43.5
1991–2026 average
Taps, 2022
5,882
#17 of 63 in OH

Sap-flow outlook at Hillsboro right now

Full Ohio forecast →

Forecast for Hillsboro, OH

Updated Oct 6, 4:00 AM EDT

Off-season for now. Sap needs freezing nights, and none are in sight. Highland County's season usually opens around February 6, which is 123 days away.

No freeze-thaw days in the forecast

freeze thaw 32°F

  1. WedOct 7
    45° / 77°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  2. ThuOct 8
    53° / 75°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  3. FriOct 9
    46° / 72°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  4. SatOct 10
    47° / 76°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  5. SunOct 11
    54° / 73°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  6. MonOct 12
    54° / 76°
    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 Hillsboro

Freeze-thaw weather at Hillsboro peaks in the weeks of Jan 26 to Mar 23, which hold about 53% of a season's sap days. March is the busiest month.
Typical season: Feb 6 – Mar 160246Week of Dec 1: 2.5 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 8: 2.6 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 15: 2.5 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 22: 2.1 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 29: 1.6 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 5: 2.1 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 12: 1.9 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 19: 1.6 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 26: 2.1 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 2: 2.6 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 9: 2.5 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 16: 2.4 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 23: 2.8 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 2: 2.9 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 9: 2.5 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 16: 2.3 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 23: 2.6 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 30: 1.4 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 6: 1.4 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 13: 0.5 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 20: 0.4 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 27: 0.0 sap days on averageWeek of May 4: 0.0 sap days on averageWeek of May 11: 0.0 sap days on averageWeek of May 18: 0.0 sap days on averageWeek of May 25: 0.0 sap days on averageDecJanFebMarAprMaytaps in ~Feb 6
Average number of freeze-thaw sap days in each week of the season at Hillsboro, 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 1; the middle half of seasons fell between Jan 24 and Feb 9. Earliest Jan 1 (2006), latest Mar 4 (2010).
Closing signal
Median Mar 6; middle half between Feb 18 and Mar 12. Earliest Feb 2 (2006), latest Mar 27 (2014).
Sap days by month
Dec24%Jan19%Feb24%Mar26%Apr7%May0%

36 seasons of sap weather

Highland County seasons, 1991–2026

The best sap year at Hillsboro was 2023 with 56 freeze-thaw days; the leanest was 2010 with 24. 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: Jan 29 – Mar 3, 41 sap days4120252025: Feb 5 – Mar 10, 46 sap days4620242024: Jan 11 – Feb 15, 55 sap days5520232023: Jan 7 – Feb 9, 56 sap days5620222022: Feb 4 – Mar 11, 52 sap days5220212021: Feb 10 – Mar 16, 54 sap days5420202020: Jan 26 – Mar 2, 46 sap days4620192019: Feb 2 – Mar 9, 51 sap days5120182018: Jan 19 – Feb 14, 51 sap days5120172017: Jan 30 – Feb 6, 36 sap days3620162016: Jan 25 – Feb 28, 41 sap days4120152015: Feb 13 – Mar 19, 39 sap days3920142014: Feb 20 – Mar 27, 36 sap days3620132013: Feb 9 – Mar 15, 53 sap days5320122012: Jan 19 – Feb 21, 50 sap days5020112011: Feb 5 – Mar 12, 40 sap days4020102010: Mar 4 – Mar 8, 24 sap days2420092009: Feb 3 – Mar 5, 39 sap days3920082008: Jan 31 – Mar 7, 38 sap days3820072007: Feb 19 – Mar 12, 35 sap days3520062006: Jan 1 – Feb 2, 42 sap days4220052005: Feb 3 – Feb 13, 35 sap days3520042004: Jan 31 – Mar 1, 48 sap days4820032003: Feb 20 – Mar 15, 26 sap days2620022002: Jan 16 – Feb 19, 52 sap days5220012001: Feb 9 – Mar 11, 48 sap days4820002000: Jan 22 – Feb 22, 41 sap days4119991999: Jan 8 – Feb 9, 50 sap days5019981998: Jan 13 – Feb 16, 43 sap days4319971997: Jan 24 – Feb 26, 52 sap days5219961996: Feb 8 – Mar 14, 42 sap days4219951995: Feb 15 – Mar 11, 39 sap days3919941994: Feb 15 – Mar 20, 39 sap days3919931993: Feb 18 – Mar 20, 38 sap days3819921992: Jan 24 – Feb 13, 46 sap days4619911991: Jan 30 – Mar 6, 42 sap days42
Each bar runs from the season's opening signal to its closing signal, estimated from daily temperatures at Hillsboro. Dashed lines mark the typical dates. The right column counts freeze-thaw sap days from December through May.

Maple production

Highland County in the Census of Agriculture

USDA counts maple operations every five years. In Highland County the 2022 Census found 18 farms making syrup (+500% since 2017). That works out to about 0.12 gallons of syrup per tap in 2022. Among the 385 counties in this atlas, Highland County ranks 181 by taps.

Highland County maple production, 2017 and 2022 (USDA Census of Agriculture)
Census yearFarmsTapsGallons of syrupGal / tap
2022185,8827180.12
20173withheldwithheld—

“Withheld” means USDA suppressed the figure to avoid disclosing data for individual operations; the farm count is still published.

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 Hillsboro (1,060ft), 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

Highland County sugaring questions

When should I tap maple trees in Highland County, Ohio?
In a typical year the sap starts running around February 6 near Hillsboro and the season winds down around March 16. 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 1 and as late as Mar 4.
How much maple syrup does Highland County produce?
The 2022 Census of Agriculture counted 18 maple operations in Highland County with 5,882 taps producing 718 gallons of syrup, ranking 17 of 63 Ohio's counties with published tap counts.
How many sap days does Highland County get in a season?
On average 43.5 freeze-thaw sap days from December through May at Hillsboro, of which about 13.6 are textbook days with a night in the 20s and a day in the 40s. The best season since 1991 was 2023 (56 sap days); the leanest was 2010 (24).
Where do these dates come from?
From 36 seasons of daily high and low temperatures at Hillsboro (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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