Skip to content
LuckySap
Get the app
Ohio · county maple atlas

Maple sugaring in Lake County, Ohio

Lake County had 9 maple operations and 2,675 taps in the 2022 Census. Around Painesville, sap usually runs from February 22 to March 30. Here's the long-run pattern, 36 seasons of sap weather, and the outlook this week.
Too early to tapAbout 139 days until the usual start.
Sap starts
Feb 22
typical year
Season ends
Mar 30
about 5 weeks
Sap days / season
31.6
1991–2026 average
Taps, 2022
2,675
#24 of 63 in OH

Sap-flow outlook at Painesville right now

Full Ohio forecast →

Forecast for Painesville, OH

Updated Oct 6, 3:46 AM EDT

Off-season for now. Sap needs freezing nights, and none are in sight. Lake County's season usually opens around February 22, which is 139 days away.

No freeze-thaw days in the forecast

freeze thaw 32°F

  1. WedOct 7
    47° / 72°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  2. ThuOct 8
    54° / 66°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  3. FriOct 9
    47° / 65°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  4. SatOct 10
    46° / 71°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  5. SunOct 11
    53° / 71°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  6. MonOct 12
    54° / 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 Painesville

Freeze-thaw weather at Painesville peaks in the weeks of Jan 26 to Mar 30, which hold about 61% of a season's sap days. March is the busiest month.
Typical season: Feb 22 – Mar 300246Week of Dec 1: 1.2 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 8: 1.7 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 15: 1.6 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 22: 1.4 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 29: 1.0 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 5: 1.2 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 12: 1.3 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 19: 1.1 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 26: 1.5 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 2: 1.9 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 9: 1.8 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 16: 2.0 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 23: 1.9 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 2: 2.2 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 9: 2.2 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 16: 2.2 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 23: 2.1 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 30: 1.4 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 6: 1.2 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 13: 0.4 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 20: 0.3 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 27: 0.1 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 22
Average number of freeze-thaw sap days in each week of the season at Painesville, 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 17; the middle half of seasons fell between Feb 5 and Feb 24. Earliest Jan 19 (2023), latest Mar 7 (2010).
Closing signal
Median Mar 20; middle half between Mar 5 and Mar 28. Earliest Feb 16 (1998), latest Apr 6 (2013).
Sap days by month
Dec20%Jan17%Feb24%Mar30%Apr9%May0%

36 seasons of sap weather

Lake County seasons, 1991–2026

The best sap year at Painesville was 1997 with 50 freeze-thaw days; the leanest was 2010 with 18. 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, 27 sap days2720252025: Feb 12 – Mar 18, 35 sap days3520242024: Feb 4 – Feb 26, 23 sap days2320232023: Jan 19 – Feb 21, 43 sap days4320222022: Feb 15 – Mar 14, 41 sap days4120212021: Feb 22 – Mar 21, 23 sap days2320202020: Feb 6 – Mar 13, 34 sap days3420192019: Feb 22 – Mar 28, 29 sap days2920182018: Jan 26 – Feb 18, 31 sap days3120172017: Feb 5 – Feb 18, 26 sap days2620162016: Feb 5 – Mar 8, 40 sap days4020152015: Mar 6 – Apr 5, 28 sap days2820142014: Mar 7 – Apr 6, 30 sap days3020132013: Mar 4 – Apr 6, 33 sap days3320122012: Feb 2 – Mar 8, 38 sap days3820112011: Mar 1 – Mar 21, 20 sap days2020102010: Mar 7 – Mar 31, 18 sap days1820092009: Feb 19 – Mar 24, 35 sap days3520082008: Feb 26 – Mar 31, 33 sap days3320072007: Feb 19 – Mar 21, 20 sap days2020062006: Jan 20 – Feb 24, 29 sap days2920052005: Feb 22 – Mar 27, 23 sap days2320042004: Feb 20 – Mar 25, 31 sap days3120032003: Feb 21 – Mar 15, 23 sap days2320022002: Jan 26 – Mar 2, 34 sap days3420012001: Mar 2 – Apr 4, 33 sap days3320002000: Jan 26 – Mar 1, 29 sap days2919991999: Feb 23 – Mar 28, 39 sap days3919981998: Jan 22 – Feb 16, 32 sap days3219971997: Feb 14 – Mar 20, 50 sap days5019961996: Feb 19 – Mar 25, 35 sap days3519951995: Feb 15 – Mar 11, 27 sap days2719941994: Feb 25 – Apr 1, 32 sap days3219931993: Mar 2 – Apr 3, 40 sap days4019921992: Feb 1 – Mar 5, 41 sap days4119911991: Feb 15 – Mar 20, 31 sap days31
Each bar runs from the season's opening signal to its closing signal, estimated from daily temperatures at Painesville. Dashed lines mark the typical dates. The right column counts freeze-thaw sap days from December through May.

Maple production

Lake County in the Census of Agriculture

USDA counts maple operations every five years. In Lake County the 2022 Census found 9 farms making syrup (-40% since 2017), with taps -39% and syrup output -49% over the same five years. That works out to about 0.20 gallons of syrup per tap in 2022 (0.23 in 2017). Among the 385 counties in this atlas, Lake County ranks 233 by taps.

Lake County maple production, 2017 and 2022 (USDA Census of Agriculture)
Census yearFarmsTapsGallons of syrupGal / tap
202292,6755250.20
2017154,3791,0240.23

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 Painesville (686ft), 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

Lake County sugaring questions

When should I tap maple trees in Lake County, Ohio?
In a typical year the sap starts running around February 22 near Painesville and the season winds down around March 30. 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 19 and as late as Mar 7.
How much maple syrup does Lake County produce?
The 2022 Census of Agriculture counted 9 maple operations in Lake County with 2,675 taps producing 525 gallons of syrup, ranking 24 of 63 Ohio's counties with published tap counts.
How many sap days does Lake County get in a season?
On average 31.6 freeze-thaw sap days from December through May at Painesville, of which about 12.8 are textbook days with a night in the 20s and a day in the 40s. The best season since 1991 was 1997 (50 sap days); the leanest was 2010 (18).
Where do these dates come from?
From 36 seasons of daily high and low temperatures at Painesville (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.

LuckySap · free on iPhone & Android

Get a heads-up when the sap will run in Lake County

LuckySap watches the forecast for your trees and can ping you the night before a strong sap day, then keeps every collection and boil in one season log. Free on iPhone and Android.

Download on the App StoreGet it on Google Play