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Ohio · county maple atlas

Maple sugaring in Knox County, Ohio

Knox County had 13 maple operations and 22,325 taps in the 2022 Census. Around Mount Vernon, sap usually runs from February 20 to March 25. Here's the long-run pattern, 36 seasons of sap weather, and the outlook this week.
Too early to tapAbout 137 days until the usual start.
Sap starts
Feb 20
typical year
Season ends
Mar 25
about 5 weeks
Sap days / season
44.7
1991–2026 average
Taps, 2022
22,325
#7 of 63 in OH

Sap-flow outlook at Mount Vernon right now

Full Ohio forecast →

Forecast for Mount Vernon, OH

Updated Oct 6, 3:46 AM EDT

Off-season for now. Sap needs freezing nights, and none are in sight. Knox County's season usually opens around February 20, which is 137 days away.

No freeze-thaw days in the forecast

freeze thaw 32°F

  1. WedOct 7
    44° / 74°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  2. ThuOct 8
    50° / 71°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  3. FriOct 9
    43° / 68°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  4. SatOct 10
    44° / 72°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  5. SunOct 11
    51° / 70°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  6. MonOct 12
    54° / 74°
    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 Mount Vernon

Freeze-thaw weather at Mount Vernon peaks in the weeks of Feb 2 to Apr 6, which hold about 57% of a season's sap days. March is the busiest month.
Typical season: Feb 20 – Mar 250246Week of Dec 1: 2.1 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 8: 2.5 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 15: 2.3 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 22: 2.1 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 29: 1.5 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 5: 1.6 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 12: 1.5 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 19: 1.4 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 26: 1.9 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 2: 2.3 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 9: 2.2 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 16: 2.3 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 23: 2.6 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 2: 3.3 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: 2.8 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 30: 2.4 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 6: 2.0 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 13: 0.9 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 20: 0.7 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 27: 0.4 sap days on averageWeek of May 4: 0.1 sap days on averageWeek of May 11: 0.1 sap days on averageWeek of May 18: 0.0 sap days on averageWeek of May 25: 0.0 sap days on averageDecJanFebMarAprMaytaps in ~Feb 20
Average number of freeze-thaw sap days in each week of the season at Mount Vernon, 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 15; the middle half of seasons fell between Feb 3 and Feb 21. Earliest Jan 14 (2017), latest Mar 1 (2001).
Closing signal
Median Mar 15; middle half between Mar 7 and Mar 25. Earliest Feb 18 (2017), latest Apr 5 (2001).
Sap days by month
Dec22%Jan15%Feb21%Mar29%Apr12%May1%

36 seasons of sap weather

Knox County seasons, 1991–2026

The best sap year at Mount Vernon was 1999 with 62 freeze-thaw days; the leanest was 2010 with 30. 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, 39 sap days3920252025: Feb 10 – Mar 10, 44 sap days4420242024: Feb 3 – Feb 26, 43 sap days4320232023: Jan 16 – Feb 19, 46 sap days4620222022: Feb 11 – Mar 14, 49 sap days4920212021: Feb 16 – Mar 21, 45 sap days4520202020: Feb 4 – Mar 10, 55 sap days5520192019: Feb 15 – Mar 21, 44 sap days4420182018: Jan 26 – Feb 18, 55 sap days5520172017: Jan 14 – Feb 18, 38 sap days3820162016: Feb 3 – Mar 7, 41 sap days4120152015: Feb 27 – Apr 2, 37 sap days3720142014: Feb 28 – Apr 1, 30 sap days3020132013: Feb 27 – Apr 3, 45 sap days4520122012: Feb 5 – Mar 12, 53 sap days5320112011: Feb 15 – Mar 15, 30 sap days3020102010: Mar 1 – Mar 10, 30 sap days3020092009: Feb 10 – Mar 15, 39 sap days3920082008: Feb 21 – Mar 27, 42 sap days4220072007: Feb 16 – Mar 19, 41 sap days4120062006: Feb 4 – Mar 8, 47 sap days4720052005: Feb 18 – Mar 25, 32 sap days3220042004: Feb 21 – Mar 25, 49 sap days4920032003: Feb 20 – Mar 24, 32 sap days3220022002: Feb 1 – Mar 6, 54 sap days5420012001: Mar 1 – Apr 5, 51 sap days5120002000: Jan 31 – Mar 7, 51 sap days5119991999: Feb 24 – Mar 31, 62 sap days6219981998: Jan 22 – Feb 22, 51 sap days5119971997: Feb 4 – Mar 10, 55 sap days5519961996: Feb 22 – Mar 29, 42 sap days4219951995: Feb 15 – Mar 13, 50 sap days5019941994: Feb 26 – Apr 1, 43 sap days4319931993: Feb 25 – Mar 20, 41 sap days4119921992: Jan 30 – Mar 2, 56 sap days5619911991: Feb 14 – Mar 17, 47 sap days47
Each bar runs from the season's opening signal to its closing signal, estimated from daily temperatures at Mount Vernon. Dashed lines mark the typical dates. The right column counts freeze-thaw sap days from December through May.

Maple production

Knox County in the Census of Agriculture

USDA counts maple operations every five years. In Knox County the 2022 Census found 13 farms making syrup (-13% since 2017), with taps +17% and syrup output +10% over the same five years. That works out to about 0.27 gallons of syrup per tap in 2022 (0.29 in 2017). Among the 385 counties in this atlas, Knox County ranks 88 by taps.

Knox County maple production, 2017 and 2022 (USDA Census of Agriculture)
Census yearFarmsTapsGallons of syrupGal / tap
20221322,3256,0930.27
20171519,0705,5180.29

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 Mount Vernon (1,024ft), 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

Knox County sugaring questions

When should I tap maple trees in Knox County, Ohio?
In a typical year the sap starts running around February 20 near Mount Vernon and the season winds down around March 25. 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 14 and as late as Mar 1.
How much maple syrup does Knox County produce?
The 2022 Census of Agriculture counted 13 maple operations in Knox County with 22,325 taps producing 6,093 gallons of syrup, ranking 7 of 63 Ohio's counties with published tap counts.
How many sap days does Knox County get in a season?
On average 44.7 freeze-thaw sap days from December through May at Mount Vernon, of which about 15.1 are textbook days with a night in the 20s and a day in the 40s. The best season since 1991 was 1999 (62 sap days); the leanest was 2010 (30).
Where do these dates come from?
From 36 seasons of daily high and low temperatures at Mount Vernon (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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