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Ohio · county maple atlas

Maple sugaring in Jefferson County, Ohio

Jefferson County had 9 maple operations and 1,210 taps in the 2022 Census. Around Steubenville, sap usually runs from February 11 to March 19. Here's the long-run pattern, 36 seasons of sap weather, and the outlook this week.
Too early to tapAbout 128 days until the usual start.
Sap starts
Feb 11
typical year
Season ends
Mar 19
about 5 weeks
Sap days / season
41.6
1991–2026 average
Taps, 2022
1,210
#33 of 63 in OH

Sap-flow outlook at Steubenville right now

Full Ohio forecast →

Forecast for Steubenville, OH

Updated Oct 6, 8:36 AM EDT

Off-season for now. Sap needs freezing nights, and none are in sight. Jefferson County's season usually opens around February 11, which is 128 days away.

No freeze-thaw days in the forecast

freeze thaw 32°F

  1. WedOct 7
    43° / 72°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  2. ThuOct 8
    53° / 71°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  3. FriOct 9
    46° / 68°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  4. SatOct 10
    46° / 72°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  5. SunOct 11
    53° / 70°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  6. MonOct 12
    56° / 72°
    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 Steubenville

Freeze-thaw weather at Steubenville peaks in the weeks of Jan 26 to Mar 23, which hold about 55% of a season's sap days. March is the busiest month.
Typical season: Feb 11 – Mar 190246Week of Dec 1: 1.9 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 8: 2.2 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 15: 2.2 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 22: 2.0 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 29: 1.8 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 5: 1.9 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 12: 1.7 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 19: 1.3 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 26: 2.1 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 2: 2.4 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 9: 2.3 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 16: 2.6 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 23: 2.6 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 2: 3.1 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 9: 2.6 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 16: 2.5 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 23: 2.8 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 30: 1.5 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: 0.2 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 11
Average number of freeze-thaw sap days in each week of the season at Steubenville, 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 6; the middle half of seasons fell between Jan 25 and Feb 13. Earliest Jan 11 (1998), latest Feb 26 (2015).
Closing signal
Median Mar 9; middle half between Feb 22 and Mar 14. Earliest Jan 28 (2006), latest Apr 2 (2015).
Sap days by month
Dec22%Jan18%Feb24%Mar28%Apr7%May0%

36 seasons of sap weather

Jefferson County seasons, 1991–2026

The best sap year at Steubenville was 2023 with 62 freeze-thaw days; the leanest was 2003 with 25. 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 31 – Mar 3, 37 sap days3720252025: Feb 8 – Mar 10, 44 sap days4420242024: Feb 3 – Feb 22, 46 sap days4620232023: Jan 12 – Feb 15, 62 sap days6220222022: Feb 9 – Mar 14, 40 sap days4020212021: Feb 11 – Mar 16, 39 sap days3920202020: Jan 28 – Mar 3, 43 sap days4320192019: Feb 7 – Mar 13, 44 sap days4420182018: Jan 26 – Feb 18, 55 sap days5520172017: Jan 14 – Feb 18, 35 sap days3520162016: Feb 2 – Mar 8, 40 sap days4020152015: Feb 26 – Apr 2, 35 sap days3520142014: Feb 25 – Apr 1, 35 sap days3520132013: Feb 20 – Mar 26, 48 sap days4820122012: Jan 25 – Mar 1, 52 sap days5220112011: Feb 12 – Mar 8, 28 sap days2820102010: Feb 19 – Mar 10, 30 sap days3020092009: Feb 9 – Mar 14, 46 sap days4620082008: Feb 5 – Mar 12, 38 sap days3820072007: Feb 19 – Mar 12, 32 sap days3220062006: Jan 16 – Jan 28, 36 sap days3620052005: Jan 25 – Feb 14, 33 sap days3320042004: Feb 8 – Mar 15, 44 sap days4420032003: Feb 17 – Mar 15, 25 sap days2520022002: Jan 17 – Feb 20, 44 sap days4420012001: Feb 14 – Mar 20, 41 sap days4120002000: Jan 22 – Feb 22, 47 sap days4719991999: Jan 13 – Feb 16, 52 sap days5219981998: Jan 11 – Feb 10, 36 sap days3619971997: Jan 24 – Feb 26, 47 sap days4719961996: Feb 9 – Mar 14, 42 sap days4219951995: Feb 6 – Mar 12, 45 sap days4519941994: Feb 17 – Mar 20, 38 sap days3819931993: Feb 18 – Mar 20, 39 sap days3919921992: Jan 27 – Mar 2, 52 sap days5219911991: Jan 27 – Feb 28, 48 sap days48
Each bar runs from the season's opening signal to its closing signal, estimated from daily temperatures at Steubenville. Dashed lines mark the typical dates. The right column counts freeze-thaw sap days from December through May.

Maple production

Jefferson County in the Census of Agriculture

USDA counts maple operations every five years. In Jefferson County the 2022 Census found 9 farms making syrup (+350% since 2017). That works out to about 0.11 gallons of syrup per tap in 2022. Among the 385 counties in this atlas, Jefferson County ranks 274 by taps.

Jefferson County maple production, 2017 and 2022 (USDA Census of Agriculture)
Census yearFarmsTapsGallons of syrupGal / tap
202291,2101300.11
20172withheldwithheld—

“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 Steubenville (899ft), 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

Jefferson County sugaring questions

When should I tap maple trees in Jefferson County, Ohio?
In a typical year the sap starts running around February 11 near Steubenville and the season winds down around March 19. 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 11 and as late as Feb 26.
How much maple syrup does Jefferson County produce?
The 2022 Census of Agriculture counted 9 maple operations in Jefferson County with 1,210 taps producing 130 gallons of syrup, ranking 33 of 63 Ohio's counties with published tap counts.
How many sap days does Jefferson County get in a season?
On average 41.6 freeze-thaw sap days from December through May at Steubenville, of which about 15.3 are textbook days with a night in the 20s and a day in the 40s. The best season since 1991 was 2023 (62 sap days); the leanest was 2003 (25).
Where do these dates come from?
From 36 seasons of daily high and low temperatures at Steubenville (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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