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Ontario · maple atlas

Maple sugaring in Brant, Ontario

Brant is a census division in Ontario. Ontario's census divisions are its counties, districts and regional municipalities. Statistics Canada's 2021 Census of Agriculture counted 19 farms reporting maple taps here (taps withheld by Statistics Canada). Around Brantford, sap usually runs from March 4 to April 4. Here's the long-run pattern, 35 seasons of sap weather, and the outlook this week.
Too early to tapAbout 148 days until the usual start.
Sap starts
Mar 4
weather estimate
Season ends
Apr 4
about 4 weeks
Sap days / season
31.3
1991–2025 average
Taps, 2021
withheld
by Statistics Canada

Sap-flow outlook at Brantford right now

Full Ontario forecast →

Forecast for Brantford, ON

Updated Oct 7, 5:00 AM EDT

Off-season for now. Sap needs freezing nights, and none are in sight. Brant's season usually opens around March 4, which is 148 days away.

No freeze-thaw days in the forecast

freeze thaw 0 °C

  1. ThuOct 8
    8° / 18°
    No refreeze forecast
  2. FriOct 9
    4° / 18°
    No refreeze forecast
  3. SatOct 10
    1° / 18°
    No refreeze forecast
  4. SunOct 11
    10° / 21°
    No refreeze forecast
  5. MonOct 12
    12° / 20°
    No refreeze forecast
  6. TueOct 13
    13° / 16°
    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 Brantford

Freeze-thaw weather at Brantford peaks in the weeks of Feb 23 to Apr 6, which hold about 48% of a season's sap days. March 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 4 – Apr 40246Week of Dec 1: 1.4 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 8: 1.4 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 15: 1.4 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 22: 1.2 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 29: 0.8 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 5: 0.8 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 12: 0.7 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 19: 0.8 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 26: 0.7 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 2: 1.3 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 9: 1.1 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 16: 1.5 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 23: 1.7 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 2: 1.8 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 9: 2.1 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 16: 2.6 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 23: 2.3 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 30: 2.5 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 6: 1.9 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 13: 1.4 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 20: 0.9 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 27: 0.6 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: 0.1 sap days on averageWeek of May 25: 0.0 sap days on averageDecJanFebMarAprMaytaps in ~Mar 4
Average number of freeze-thaw sap days in each week of the season at Brantford, 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 4; the middle half of seasons fell between Feb 25 and Mar 10. Earliest Feb 5 (2024), latest Mar 18 (2018).
Closing signal
Median Apr 4; middle half between Mar 27 and Apr 9. Earliest Mar 11 (2012), latest Apr 22 (2018).
Sap days by month
Dec19%Jan10%Feb19%Mar32%Apr20%May1%

35 seasons of sap weather

Brant seasons, 1991–2025

The best sap year at Brantford was 1999 with 42 freeze-thaw days; the leanest was 2011 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: Feb 28 – Apr 2, 29 sap days2920242024: Feb 5 – Mar 12, 32 sap days3220232023: Feb 28 – Apr 2, 37 sap days3720222022: Mar 5 – Apr 4, 38 sap days3820212021: Feb 23 – Mar 22, 32 sap days3220202020: Mar 2 – Mar 24, 42 sap days4220192019: Mar 8 – Apr 4, 34 sap days3420182018: Mar 18 – Apr 22, 39 sap days3920172017: Feb 14 – Mar 21, 23 sap days2320162016: Feb 11 – Mar 13, 37 sap days3720152015: Mar 13 – Apr 4, 25 sap days2520142014: Mar 15 – Apr 19, 25 sap days2520132013: Mar 10 – Apr 8, 33 sap days3320122012: Feb 10 – Mar 11, 40 sap days4020112011: Mar 9 – Apr 9, 20 sap days2020102010: Feb 28 – Mar 31, 22 sap days2220092009: Mar 6 – Apr 9, 34 sap days3420082008: Mar 8 – Apr 4, 26 sap days2620072007: Feb 26 – Mar 30, 23 sap days2320062006: Feb 24 – Mar 29, 32 sap days3220052005: Mar 9 – Apr 13, 33 sap days3320042004: Mar 5 – Apr 9, 34 sap days3420032003: Mar 12 – Apr 13, 23 sap days2320022002: Mar 4 – Apr 7, 42 sap days4220012001: Mar 9 – Apr 5, 27 sap days2720002000: Feb 14 – Mar 20, 31 sap days3119991999: Mar 1 – Mar 30, 42 sap days4219981998: Feb 22 – Mar 25, 29 sap days2919971997: Mar 2 – Apr 4, 34 sap days3419961996: Mar 16 – Apr 19, 32 sap days3219951995: Feb 18 – Mar 25, 28 sap days2819941994: Mar 11 – Apr 11, 28 sap days2819931993: Mar 12 – Apr 13, 24 sap days2419921992: Mar 15 – Apr 16, 36 sap days3619911991: Mar 1 – Apr 4, 30 sap days30
Each bar runs from the season's opening signal to its closing signal, estimated from daily Daymet temperatures at Brantford. Dashed lines mark the typical dates. The right column counts freeze-thaw sap days from December through May.

Maple production

Brant 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 19 in Brant; in 2016, 22 farms and 2,373 taps.

Over the five years the farm count changed −14%. 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.

Brant maple production, 2016 and 2021 (Statistics Canada, Census of Agriculture)
Census yearFarms reporting tapsTaps
202119withheld by Statistics Canada
2016222,373
  • "Withheld by Statistics Canada": Statistics Canada suppressed the value as too unreliable to publish (F). The farm count is still published.

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 Brantford, the division's most populous municipality in the 2021 Census; the cell sits at 202 m (663 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

Brant sugaring questions

When should I tap maple trees in Brant, Ontario?
In a typical year the sap starts running around March 4 near Brantford and the season winds down around April 4. 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 5 and as late as Mar 18.
How much maple syrup does Brant produce?
Statistics Canada doesn't publish syrup volume by census division. Its 2021 Census of Agriculture counted 19 farms reporting maple taps in Brant; the tap count was withheld by Statistics Canada.
How many sap days does Brant get in a season?
On average 31.3 freeze-thaw sap days from December through May at Brantford, of which about 13.4 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 1999 (42 sap days); the leanest was 2011 (20).
Where do these dates come from?
From 35 seasons of daily high and low temperatures at Brantford (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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