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Ohio · county maple atlas

Maple sugaring in Montgomery County, Ohio

Montgomery County had 7 maple operations and 253 taps in the 2022 Census. Around Dayton, sap usually runs from February 8 to March 14. Here's the long-run pattern, 36 seasons of sap weather, and the outlook this week.
Too early to tapAbout 125 days until the usual start.
Sap starts
Feb 8
typical year
Season ends
Mar 14
about 5 weeks
Sap days / season
38.2
1991–2026 average
Taps, 2022
253
#53 of 63 in OH

Sap-flow outlook at Dayton right now

Full Ohio forecast →

Forecast for Dayton, OH

Updated Oct 6, 4:00 AM EDT

Off-season for now. Sap needs freezing nights, and none are in sight. Montgomery County's season usually opens around February 8, which is 125 days away.

No freeze-thaw days in the forecast

freeze thaw 32°F

  1. WedOct 7
    48° / 79°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  2. ThuOct 8
    53° / 74°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  3. FriOct 9
    46° / 71°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  4. SatOct 10
    48° / 77°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  5. SunOct 11
    56° / 75°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  6. MonOct 12
    56° / 78°
    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 Dayton

Freeze-thaw weather at Dayton 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 8 – Mar 140246Week of Dec 1: 2.0 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 8: 2.3 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 15: 2.3 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 22: 2.0 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 29: 1.6 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 5: 1.8 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 12: 1.8 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 19: 1.6 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 26: 1.8 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 2: 2.2 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 9: 2.4 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 16: 2.3 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 23: 2.4 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 2: 2.7 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: 1.1 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 6: 1.1 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 13: 0.1 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 20: 0.0 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 8
Average number of freeze-thaw sap days in each week of the season at Dayton, 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 3; the middle half of seasons fell between Jan 23 and Feb 9. Earliest Jan 8 (2023), latest Feb 20 (2003).
Closing signal
Median Mar 4; middle half between Feb 15 and Mar 11. Earliest Jan 28 (2006), latest Mar 23 (2015).
Sap days by month
Dec24%Jan20%Feb24%Mar26%Apr5%May0%

36 seasons of sap weather

Montgomery County seasons, 1991–2026

The best sap year at Dayton was 2018 with 56 freeze-thaw days; the leanest was 2003 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 27 – Mar 3, 34 sap days3420252025: Feb 4 – Mar 7, 28 sap days2820242024: Feb 3 – Feb 13, 42 sap days4220232023: Jan 8 – Feb 12, 44 sap days4420222022: Feb 4 – Mar 11, 48 sap days4820212021: Feb 4 – Mar 9, 38 sap days3820202020: Jan 26 – Mar 2, 47 sap days4720192019: Feb 6 – Mar 12, 45 sap days4520182018: Jan 19 – Feb 14, 56 sap days5620172017: Jan 10 – Feb 11, 37 sap days3720162016: Jan 26 – Feb 28, 34 sap days3420152015: Feb 16 – Mar 23, 37 sap days3720142014: Feb 15 – Mar 19, 34 sap days3420132013: Feb 4 – Mar 9, 49 sap days4920122012: Jan 18 – Feb 21, 43 sap days4320112011: Feb 12 – Mar 8, 30 sap days3020102010: Feb 12 – Mar 8, 26 sap days2620092009: Feb 2 – Mar 5, 36 sap days3620082008: Feb 7 – Mar 14, 34 sap days3420072007: Feb 19 – Mar 12, 33 sap days3320062006: Jan 15 – Jan 28, 33 sap days3320052005: Feb 3 – Feb 13, 30 sap days3020042004: Feb 1 – Mar 1, 45 sap days4520032003: Feb 20 – Mar 15, 24 sap days2420022002: Jan 12 – Feb 15, 47 sap days4720012001: Feb 8 – Mar 11, 36 sap days3620002000: Jan 22 – Feb 22, 44 sap days4419991999: Jan 11 – Feb 15, 43 sap days4319981998: Jan 22 – Feb 15, 35 sap days3519971997: Jan 23 – Feb 26, 35 sap days3519961996: Feb 7 – Mar 14, 37 sap days3719951995: Feb 15 – Mar 11, 35 sap days3519941994: Feb 14 – Mar 20, 36 sap days3619931993: Feb 18 – Mar 20, 38 sap days3819921992: Jan 23 – Feb 13, 43 sap days4319911991: Jan 27 – Feb 28, 38 sap days38
Each bar runs from the season's opening signal to its closing signal, estimated from daily temperatures at Dayton. Dashed lines mark the typical dates. The right column counts freeze-thaw sap days from December through May.

Maple production

Montgomery County in the Census of Agriculture

USDA counts maple operations every five years. In Montgomery County the 2022 Census found 7 farms making syrup (+17% since 2017), with taps -28% and syrup output +63% over the same five years. That works out to about 0.24 gallons of syrup per tap in 2022 (0.11 in 2017). Among the 385 counties in this atlas, Montgomery County ranks 337 by taps.

Montgomery County maple production, 2017 and 2022 (USDA Census of Agriculture)
Census yearFarmsTapsGallons of syrupGal / tap
20227253620.24
20176351380.11

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 Dayton (784ft), 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

Montgomery County sugaring questions

When should I tap maple trees in Montgomery County, Ohio?
In a typical year the sap starts running around February 8 near Dayton and the season winds down around March 14. 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 8 and as late as Feb 20.
How much maple syrup does Montgomery County produce?
The 2022 Census of Agriculture counted 7 maple operations in Montgomery County with 253 taps producing 62 gallons of syrup, ranking 53 of 63 Ohio's counties with published tap counts.
How many sap days does Montgomery County get in a season?
On average 38.2 freeze-thaw sap days from December through May at Dayton, of which about 13.1 are textbook days with a night in the 20s and a day in the 40s. The best season since 1991 was 2018 (56 sap days); the leanest was 2003 (24).
Where do these dates come from?
From 36 seasons of daily high and low temperatures at Dayton (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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