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Ohio · county maple atlas

Maple sugaring in Ross County, Ohio

Ross County had 6 maple operations and 980 taps in the 2022 Census. Around Chillicothe, sap usually runs from February 5 to March 13. Here's the long-run pattern, 36 seasons of sap weather, and the outlook this week.
Too early to tapAbout 122 days until the usual start.
Sap starts
Feb 5
typical year
Season ends
Mar 13
about 5 weeks
Sap days / season
44.4
1991–2026 average
Taps, 2022
980
#35 of 63 in OH

Sap-flow outlook at Chillicothe right now

Full Ohio forecast →

Forecast for Chillicothe, OH

Updated Oct 6, 4:00 AM EDT

Off-season for now. Sap needs freezing nights, and none are in sight. Ross County's season usually opens around February 5, which is 122 days away.

No freeze-thaw days in the forecast

freeze thaw 32°F

  1. WedOct 7
    42° / 78°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  2. ThuOct 8
    52° / 77°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  3. FriOct 9
    44° / 74°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  4. SatOct 10
    45° / 78°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  5. SunOct 11
    53° / 75°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  6. MonOct 12
    54° / 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 Chillicothe

Freeze-thaw weather at Chillicothe 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 5 – Mar 130246Week of Dec 1: 2.4 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 8: 2.7 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 15: 2.6 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 22: 2.2 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 29: 1.9 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: 1.8 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 26: 2.3 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 2: 2.6 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 9: 2.6 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 16: 2.5 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 23: 2.9 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: 2.4 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 23: 2.6 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 30: 1.5 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 6: 1.3 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 13: 0.3 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 5
Average number of freeze-thaw sap days in each week of the season at Chillicothe, 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 Jan 31; the middle half of seasons fell between Jan 21 and Feb 7. Earliest Jan 7 (2023), latest Mar 1 (2003).
Closing signal
Median Mar 3; middle half between Feb 15 and Mar 11. Earliest Jan 28 (2006), latest Mar 20 (1993).
Sap days by month
Dec24%Jan20%Feb24%Mar26%Apr6%May0%

36 seasons of sap weather

Ross County seasons, 1991–2026

The best sap year at Chillicothe was 1999 with 57 freeze-thaw days; the leanest was 2003 with 27. 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 28 – Mar 3, 39 sap days3920252025: Feb 5 – Mar 10, 49 sap days4920242024: Jan 9 – Feb 13, 51 sap days5120232023: Jan 7 – Feb 9, 47 sap days4720222022: Feb 2 – Mar 5, 50 sap days5020212021: Feb 7 – Mar 14, 48 sap days4820202020: Jan 13 – Feb 17, 41 sap days4120192019: Jan 23 – Feb 27, 44 sap days4420182018: Jan 19 – Feb 14, 52 sap days5220172017: Jan 30 – Feb 7, 38 sap days3820162016: Jan 26 – Feb 27, 35 sap days3520152015: Feb 14 – Mar 19, 40 sap days4020142014: Feb 13 – Mar 19, 34 sap days3420132013: Feb 4 – Mar 10, 52 sap days5220122012: Jan 17 – Feb 21, 48 sap days4820112011: Feb 5 – Mar 8, 38 sap days3820102010: Feb 11 – Mar 10, 29 sap days2920092009: Feb 2 – Mar 6, 44 sap days4420082008: Jan 28 – Mar 4, 47 sap days4720072007: Feb 19 – Mar 12, 39 sap days3920062006: Jan 15 – Jan 28, 38 sap days3820052005: Feb 3 – Feb 13, 38 sap days3820042004: Jan 31 – Mar 2, 51 sap days5120032003: Mar 1 – Mar 15, 27 sap days2720022002: Jan 11 – Feb 15, 53 sap days5320012001: Feb 5 – Mar 12, 46 sap days4620002000: Jan 21 – Feb 22, 55 sap days5519991999: Jan 11 – Feb 11, 57 sap days5719981998: Jan 12 – Feb 11, 44 sap days4419971997: Jan 23 – Feb 26, 47 sap days4719961996: Feb 7 – Mar 14, 45 sap days4519951995: Feb 15 – Mar 5, 42 sap days4219941994: Feb 13 – Mar 20, 43 sap days4319931993: Feb 17 – Mar 20, 45 sap days4519921992: Jan 24 – Feb 13, 51 sap days5119911991: Jan 26 – Feb 28, 50 sap days50
Each bar runs from the season's opening signal to its closing signal, estimated from daily temperatures at Chillicothe. Dashed lines mark the typical dates. The right column counts freeze-thaw sap days from December through May.

Maple production

Ross County in the Census of Agriculture

USDA counts maple operations every five years. In Ross County the 2022 Census found 6 farms making syrup (-40% since 2017), with taps +96% and syrup output +250% over the same five years. That works out to about 0.21 gallons of syrup per tap in 2022 (0.12 in 2017). Among the 385 counties in this atlas, Ross County ranks 285 by taps.

Ross County maple production, 2017 and 2022 (USDA Census of Agriculture)
Census yearFarmsTapsGallons of syrupGal / tap
202269802030.21
201710501580.12

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 Chillicothe (745ft), 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

Ross County sugaring questions

When should I tap maple trees in Ross County, Ohio?
In a typical year the sap starts running around February 5 near Chillicothe and the season winds down around March 13. 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 7 and as late as Mar 1.
How much maple syrup does Ross County produce?
The 2022 Census of Agriculture counted 6 maple operations in Ross County with 980 taps producing 203 gallons of syrup, ranking 35 of 63 Ohio's counties with published tap counts.
How many sap days does Ross County get in a season?
On average 44.4 freeze-thaw sap days from December through May at Chillicothe, 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 1999 (57 sap days); the leanest was 2003 (27).
Where do these dates come from?
From 36 seasons of daily high and low temperatures at Chillicothe (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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