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Ontario · maple atlas

Maple sugaring in Bruce, Ontario

Bruce is a county in Ontario. Ontario's census divisions are its counties, districts and regional municipalities. Statistics Canada's 2021 Census of Agriculture counted 83 farms reporting maple taps and 73,331 taps here. Around Saugeen Shores, sap usually runs from March 16 to April 15. Here's the long-run pattern, 35 seasons of sap weather, and the outlook this week.
Too early to tapAbout 160 days until the usual start.
Sap starts
Mar 16
weather estimate
Season ends
Apr 15
about 4 weeks
Sap days / season
27.4
1991–2025 average
Taps, 2021
73,331
#7 of 29 in ON

Sap-flow outlook at Saugeen Shores right now

Full Ontario forecast →

Forecast for Saugeen Shores, ON

Updated Oct 7, 11:00 AM EDT

Off-season for now. Sap needs freezing nights, and none are in sight. Bruce's season usually opens around March 16, which is 160 days away.

No freeze-thaw days in the forecast

freeze thaw 0 °C

  1. ThuOct 8
    8° / 16°
    No refreeze forecast
  2. FriOct 9
    4° / 15°
    No refreeze forecast
  3. SatOct 10
    4° / 22°
    No refreeze forecast
  4. SunOct 11
    17° / 24°
    No refreeze forecast
  5. MonOct 12
    12° / 18°
    No refreeze forecast
  6. TueOct 13
    12° / 14°
    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 Saugeen Shores

Freeze-thaw weather at Saugeen Shores peaks in the weeks of Mar 9 to Apr 13, which hold about 46% 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 16 – Apr 150246Week of Dec 1: 0.7 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 8: 1.0 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 15: 1.1 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 22: 1.0 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 29: 0.7 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 5: 0.7 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 12: 0.4 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 19: 0.5 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 26: 0.4 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 2: 0.7 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 9: 0.7 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 16: 1.1 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 23: 1.4 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 2: 1.4 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 9: 1.7 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 16: 2.1 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 23: 2.6 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 30: 2.3 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 6: 2.1 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 13: 1.9 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 20: 1.5 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 27: 1.0 sap days on averageWeek of May 4: 0.1 sap days on averageWeek of May 11: 0.3 sap days on averageWeek of May 18: 0.1 sap days on averageWeek of May 25: 0.0 sap days on averageDecJanFebMarAprMaytaps in ~Mar 16
Average number of freeze-thaw sap days in each week of the season at Saugeen Shores, 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 16; the middle half of seasons fell between Mar 7 and Mar 20. Earliest Feb 13 (2012), latest Mar 29 (2007).
Closing signal
Median Apr 15; middle half between Apr 7 and Apr 18. Earliest Mar 15 (2012), latest Apr 30 (2018).
Sap days by month
Dec15%Jan8%Feb14%Mar32%Apr28%May2%

35 seasons of sap weather

Bruce seasons, 1991–2025

The best sap year at Saugeen Shores was 2020 with 40 freeze-thaw days; the leanest was 2014 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 days20252025: Mar 12 – Apr 13, 28 sap days2820242024: Feb 21 – Mar 26, 31 sap days3120232023: Mar 9 – Apr 9, 37 sap days3720222022: Mar 18 – Apr 18, 29 sap days2920212021: Mar 2 – Apr 4, 27 sap days2720202020: Mar 8 – Apr 12, 40 sap days4020192019: Mar 18 – Apr 17, 27 sap days2720182018: Mar 26 – Apr 30, 24 sap days2420172017: Feb 28 – Mar 29, 23 sap days2320162016: Mar 12 – Apr 15, 30 sap days3020152015: Mar 17 – Apr 15, 22 sap days2220142014: Mar 24 – Apr 24, 18 sap days1820132013: Mar 15 – Apr 17, 22 sap days2220122012: Feb 13 – Mar 15, 38 sap days3820112011: Mar 20 – Apr 22, 21 sap days2120102010: Mar 6 – Mar 31, 20 sap days2020092009: Mar 13 – Apr 17, 34 sap days3420082008: Mar 26 – Apr 16, 22 sap days2220072007: Mar 29 – Apr 11, 19 sap days1920062006: Mar 24 – Apr 9, 19 sap days1920052005: Mar 19 – Apr 13, 25 sap days2520042004: Mar 14 – Apr 16, 28 sap days2820032003: Mar 26 – Apr 17, 22 sap days2220022002: Mar 10 – Apr 10, 36 sap days3620012001: Mar 18 – Apr 19, 29 sap days2920002000: Feb 18 – Mar 20, 30 sap days3019991999: Mar 2 – Apr 5, 35 sap days3519981998: Feb 25 – Mar 25, 27 sap days2719971997: Mar 22 – Apr 26, 26 sap days2619961996: Mar 24 – Apr 28, 29 sap days2919951995: Mar 16 – Apr 18, 35 sap days3519941994: Mar 20 – Apr 23, 25 sap days2519931993: Mar 17 – Apr 18, 26 sap days2619921992: Mar 20 – Apr 16, 24 sap days2419911991: Mar 3 – Apr 3, 31 sap days31
Each bar runs from the season's opening signal to its closing signal, estimated from daily Daymet temperatures at Saugeen Shores. Dashed lines mark the typical dates. The right column counts freeze-thaw sap days from December through May.

Maple production

Bruce 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 83 in Bruce, with 73,331 taps; in 2016, 122 farms and 63,041 taps. Among Ontario's 29 census divisions with a published tap count, Bruce ranks 7th, and 63rd of the 94 in this atlas.

Over the five years the farm count changed −32% and taps +16%. 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.

Bruce maple production, 2016 and 2021 (Statistics Canada, Census of Agriculture)
Census yearFarms reporting tapsTaps
20218373,331
201612263,041

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 Saugeen Shores, the division's most populous municipality in the 2021 Census; the cell sits at 221 m (725 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

Bruce sugaring questions

When should I tap maple trees in Bruce, Ontario?
In a typical year the sap starts running around March 16 near Saugeen Shores and the season winds down around April 15. 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 13 and as late as Mar 29.
How much maple syrup does Bruce produce?
Statistics Canada doesn't publish syrup volume by census division. Its 2021 Census of Agriculture counted 83 farms reporting 73,331 maple taps in Bruce, number 7 of 29 Ontario divisions with a published count.
How many sap days does Bruce get in a season?
On average 27.4 freeze-thaw sap days from December through May at Saugeen Shores, of which about 12.3 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 2020 (40 sap days); the leanest was 2014 (18).
Where do these dates come from?
From 35 seasons of daily high and low temperatures at Saugeen Shores (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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