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Ontario · maple atlas

Maple sugaring in Algoma, Ontario

Algoma is a district in Ontario. Ontario's census divisions are its counties, districts and regional municipalities. Statistics Canada's 2021 Census of Agriculture counted 53 farms reporting maple taps and 133,083 taps here, number 5 in Ontario. Around Sault Ste. Marie, sap usually runs from March 27 to April 27. Here's the long-run pattern, 35 seasons of sap weather, and the outlook this week.
Too early to tapAbout 171 days until the usual start.
Sap starts
Mar 27
weather estimate
Season ends
Apr 27
about 4 weeks
Sap days / season
30.2
1991–2025 average
Taps, 2021
133,083
#5 of 29 in ON

Sap-flow outlook at Sault Ste. Marie right now

Full Ontario forecast →

Forecast for Sault Ste. Marie, ON

Updated Oct 7, 11:30 AM EDT

Off-season for now. Sap needs freezing nights, and none are in sight. Algoma's season usually opens around March 27, which is 171 days away.

No freeze-thaw days in the forecast

freeze thaw 0 °C

  1. ThuOct 8
    8° / 14°
    No refreeze forecast
  2. FriOct 9
    5° / 13°
    No refreeze forecast
  3. SatOct 10
    3° / 19°
    No refreeze forecast
  4. SunOct 11
    11° / 22°
    No refreeze forecast
  5. MonOct 12
    10° / 17°
    No refreeze forecast
  6. TueOct 13
    8° / 12°
    No refreeze forecast

Data: Environment and Climate Change Canada. Verdicts use freeze-thaw thresholds from maple field research; your woods may run a little differently.

When the sap runs

The sugaring calendar at Sault Ste. Marie

Freeze-thaw weather at Sault Ste. Marie peaks in the weeks of Mar 16 to Apr 20, which hold about 55% of a season's sap days. April is the busiest month. Typical dates are a weather estimate (no official season record for this province): the median of this division's own weather signals.
Typical season: Mar 27 – Apr 270246Week of Dec 1: 0.6 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 8: 0.9 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 15: 0.5 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 22: 0.7 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 29: 0.2 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 5: 0.3 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 12: 0.1 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 19: 0.2 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 26: 0.3 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 2: 0.4 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 9: 0.3 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 16: 0.7 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 23: 0.9 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 2: 1.3 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 9: 1.8 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 16: 2.1 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 23: 2.8 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 30: 3.0 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 6: 2.9 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 13: 3.0 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 20: 2.8 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 27: 1.7 sap days on averageWeek of May 4: 1.1 sap days on averageWeek of May 11: 0.9 sap days on averageWeek of May 18: 0.3 sap days on averageWeek of May 25: 0.2 sap days on averageDecJanFebMarAprMaytaps in ~Mar 27
Average number of freeze-thaw sap days in each week of the season at Sault Ste. Marie, 1991–2025 (Daymet temperatures). A sap day is an overnight low under −1 °C (30.2 °F) followed by an afternoon high over +3 °C (37.4 °F). The shaded band is the typical season.

Year-to-year spread

Opening signal
Median Mar 27; the middle half of seasons fell between Mar 19 and Apr 1. Earliest Feb 27 (2010), latest Apr 12 (1996).
Closing signal
Median Apr 27; middle half between Apr 17 and May 5. Earliest Mar 30 (2010), latest May 14 (1996).
Sap days by month
Dec9%Jan3%Feb8%Mar30%Apr40%May9%

35 seasons of sap weather

Algoma seasons, 1991–2025

The best sap year at Sault Ste. Marie was 2012 with 42 freeze-thaw days; the leanest was 2015 with 20. 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 days20252025: Mar 30 – Apr 30, 27 sap days2720242024: Mar 11 – Apr 8, 34 sap days3420232023: Mar 27 – Apr 27, 31 sap days3120222022: Apr 2 – May 5, 27 sap days2720212021: Mar 8 – Apr 4, 36 sap days3620202020: Apr 3 – May 8, 40 sap days4020192019: Apr 3 – May 8, 30 sap days3020182018: Apr 9 – Apr 30, 31 sap days3120172017: Mar 18 – Apr 22, 30 sap days3020162016: Mar 26 – Apr 29, 33 sap days3320152015: Mar 29 – Apr 26, 20 sap days2020142014: Apr 6 – May 6, 21 sap days2120132013: Mar 31 – Apr 27, 30 sap days3020122012: Mar 8 – Apr 3, 42 sap days4220112011: Mar 31 – May 5, 29 sap days2920102010: Feb 27 – Mar 30, 38 sap days3820092009: Mar 26 – Apr 29, 36 sap days3620082008: Mar 27 – Apr 16, 24 sap days2420072007: Mar 19 – Apr 17, 29 sap days2920062006: Mar 16 – Apr 10, 24 sap days2420052005: Mar 22 – Apr 13, 27 sap days2720042004: Mar 30 – May 4, 35 sap days3520032003: Mar 27 – Apr 30, 33 sap days3320022002: Mar 31 – May 4, 35 sap days3520012001: Mar 25 – Apr 28, 23 sap days2320002000: Mar 14 – Apr 17, 22 sap days2219991999: Mar 15 – Apr 15, 28 sap days2819981998: Mar 9 – Apr 11, 26 sap days2619971997: Apr 2 – May 7, 26 sap days2619961996: Apr 12 – May 14, 24 sap days2419951995: Mar 27 – Apr 26, 36 sap days3619941994: Apr 2 – May 7, 35 sap days3519931993: Mar 29 – Apr 27, 32 sap days3219921992: Apr 3 – May 7, 33 sap days3319911991: Mar 21 – Apr 24, 29 sap days29
Each bar runs from the season's opening signal to its closing signal, estimated from daily Daymet temperatures at Sault Ste. Marie. Dashed lines mark the typical dates. The right column counts freeze-thaw sap days from December through May.

Maple production

Algoma in the Census of Agriculture

Statistics Canada counts the farms that report maple taps in its Census of Agriculture every five years. In 2021 it counted 53 in Algoma, with 133,083 taps; in 2016, 74 farms and 149,985 taps. Among Ontario's 29 census divisions with a published tap count, Algoma ranks 5th, and 55th of the 94 in this atlas.

Over the five years the farm count changed −28% and taps −11%. Statistics Canada cautions that 2021 and 2016 are not strictly comparable: the census-farm definition changed in 2021, and farms were assigned to their main location more strictly.

Statistics Canada doesn't publish syrup volume by census division, so the Canadian pages show farms and taps, not gallons or litres.

Algoma maple production, 2016 and 2021 (Statistics Canada, Census of Agriculture)
Census yearFarms reporting tapsTaps
202153133,083
201674149,985

Nearby

Neighboring maple divisions

Distances are between reference towns; typical dates are each division's own estimate.

About these numbers

The season dates are estimated from 35 seasons of daily high and low temperatures for the Daymet 1-km grid cell at Sault Ste. Marie, the division's most populous municipality in the 2021 Census; the cell sits at 192 m (630 ft). Each day is scored with the same freeze-thaw rule as our live forecast: a sap day is an overnight low under −1 °C (30.2 °F) followed by an afternoon high over +3 °C (37.4 °F). A season's closing signal is the last sap day before accumulated warmth reaches a threshold, and the opening signal sits 35 days before that, never earlier than the first real freeze-thaw week. The rule was calibrated on 117 state-seasons of USDA-reported dates in the US and is applied here unchanged. Ontario has no official season record, so the typical dates are a weather estimate. Production figures are copied from Statistics Canada as published. Full method, the Daymet checks and the Quebec validation → Run a sugarhouse here? Put this sap forecast on your own website →

Sources · 7

  1. 1.Maple taps, Census of Agriculture, 2021 (Table 32-10-0362-01) · Statistics Canada
  2. 2.Maple taps, Census of Agriculture, 2011 and 2016 (Table 32-10-0423-01) · Statistics Canada
  3. 3.Daymet: Daily Surface Weather Data on a 1-km Grid for North America, Version 4 R1 · ORNL DAAC
  4. 4.Sap flow in sugar maple: timing and weather drivers (Frontiers in Agronomy, 2025) · de Lima Santos et al.
  5. 5.2021 Census cartographic boundary files (census divisions, population centres) · Statistics Canada
  6. 6.Population and dwelling counts, 2021 Census (Tables 98-10-0002-01 and 98-10-0011-01) · Statistics Canada
Show 1 more
  1. 7.GeoNames geographical database (CA) · GeoNames

Licences and attribution

  • Adapted from Statistics Canada, Census of Agriculture 2021 and 2016 (Tables 32-10-0362-01 and 32-10-0423-01), 2021 Census population and dwelling counts (Tables 98-10-0002-01 and 98-10-0011-01) and 2021 Census cartographic boundary files. This does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada of this product.
  • Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Canada.
  • Thornton, M.M., R. Shrestha, Y. Wei, P.E. Thornton, S-C. Kao, and B.E. Wilson. 2022. Daymet: Daily Surface Weather Data on a 1-km Grid for North America, Version 4 R1. ORNL DAAC, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, USA. https://doi.org/10.3334/ORNLDAAC/2129
  • Place coordinates: GeoNames (geonames.org), CC BY 4.0.

FAQ

Algoma sugaring questions

When should I tap maple trees in Algoma, Ontario?
In a typical year the sap starts running around March 27 near Sault Ste. Marie and the season winds down around April 27. Have your taps in a day or two before the first forecast string of nights below −1 °C and days above +3 °C. In the past 35 seasons the weather signal came as early as Feb 27 and as late as Apr 12.
How much maple syrup does Algoma produce?
Statistics Canada doesn't publish syrup volume by census division. Its 2021 Census of Agriculture counted 53 farms reporting 133,083 maple taps in Algoma, number 5 of 29 Ontario divisions with a published count.
How many sap days does Algoma get in a season?
On average 30.2 freeze-thaw sap days from December through May at Sault Ste. Marie, of which about 11.6 are textbook days with a night between about −7 and −2 °C and a day between 4 and 9 °C. The best season since 1991 was 2012 (42 sap days); the leanest was 2015 (20).
Where do these dates come from?
From 35 seasons of daily high and low temperatures at Sault Ste. Marie (Daymet 1-km grid), scored with the same freeze-thaw rule as our live forecast. Ontario has no official season record, so they are a weather estimate. They describe a typical year at one point in the division; your sugarbush, slope and elevation can shift them by days.

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