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Ontario · maple atlas

Maple sugaring in Chatham-Kent, Ontario

Chatham-Kent 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 18 farms reporting maple taps and 13,477 taps here. Around Chatham, sap usually runs from March 2 to March 27. Here's the long-run pattern, 35 seasons of sap weather, and the outlook this week.
Too early to tapAbout 146 days until the usual start.
Sap starts
Mar 2
weather estimate
Season ends
Mar 27
about 4 weeks
Sap days / season
25.6
1991–2025 average
Taps, 2021
13,477
#25 of 29 in ON

Sap-flow outlook at Chatham right now

Full Ontario forecast →

Forecast for Chatham, ON

Updated Oct 7, 11:00 AM EDT

Off-season for now. Sap needs freezing nights, and none are in sight. Chatham-Kent's season usually opens around March 2, which is 146 days away.

No freeze-thaw days in the forecast

freeze thaw 0 °C

  1. ThuOct 8
    10° / 20°
    No refreeze forecast
  2. FriOct 9
    7° / 21°
    No refreeze forecast
  3. SatOct 10
    11° / 28°
    No refreeze forecast
  4. SunOct 11
    15° / 24°
    No refreeze forecast
  5. MonOct 12
    14° / 23°
    No refreeze forecast
  6. TueOct 13
    14° / 19°
    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 Chatham

Freeze-thaw weather at Chatham peaks in the weeks of Mar 2 to Apr 6, which hold about 45% 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 2 – Mar 270246Week of Dec 1: 1.0 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 8: 1.2 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 15: 0.9 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: 0.9 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 12: 0.7 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 19: 0.5 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 26: 0.7 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 2: 1.1 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 9: 1.0 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 16: 1.6 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 23: 1.2 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 2: 1.8 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 9: 1.9 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 16: 2.4 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 23: 2.2 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 30: 1.7 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 6: 1.5 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 13: 0.7 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 20: 0.5 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 27: 0.2 sap days on averageWeek of May 4: 0.1 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 ~Mar 2
Average number of freeze-thaw sap days in each week of the season at Chatham, 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 2; the middle half of seasons fell between Feb 21 and Mar 10. Earliest Feb 2 (2024), latest Mar 20 (1992).
Closing signal
Median Mar 27; middle half between Mar 21 and Apr 4. Earliest Feb 26 (2017), latest Apr 16 (2014).
Sap days by month
Dec17%Jan12%Feb20%Mar35%Apr16%May0%

35 seasons of sap weather

Chatham-Kent seasons, 1991–2025

The best sap year at Chatham was 2022 with 40 freeze-thaw days; the leanest was 1994 with 14. 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 22 – Mar 27, 30 sap days3020242024: Feb 2 – Mar 2, 33 sap days3320232023: Feb 15 – Mar 20, 33 sap days3320222022: Mar 2 – Apr 4, 40 sap days4020212021: Feb 25 – Mar 21, 29 sap days2920202020: Feb 19 – Mar 23, 34 sap days3420192019: Mar 3 – Apr 1, 31 sap days3120182018: Mar 17 – Apr 10, 31 sap days3120172017: Feb 13 – Feb 26, 21 sap days2120162016: Feb 9 – Mar 13, 30 sap days3020152015: Mar 10 – Apr 5, 28 sap days2820142014: Mar 13 – Apr 16, 22 sap days2220132013: Mar 7 – Apr 6, 27 sap days2720122012: Feb 8 – Mar 11, 35 sap days3520112011: Mar 8 – Apr 2, 18 sap days1820102010: Feb 25 – Mar 30, 20 sap days2020092009: Feb 27 – Mar 31, 29 sap days2920082008: Mar 14 – Apr 4, 25 sap days2520072007: Mar 18 – Mar 21, 18 sap days1820062006: Feb 20 – Mar 27, 29 sap days2920052005: Mar 17 – Mar 27, 17 sap days1720042004: Feb 27 – Mar 24, 23 sap days2320032003: Mar 10 – Apr 13, 18 sap days1820022002: Feb 13 – Mar 17, 25 sap days2520012001: Mar 4 – Apr 4, 17 sap days1720002000: Mar 4 – Mar 7, 23 sap days2319991999: Feb 25 – Mar 28, 34 sap days3419981998: Feb 17 – Mar 24, 21 sap days2119971997: Feb 22 – Mar 24, 25 sap days2519961996: Mar 9 – Apr 10, 23 sap days2319951995: Mar 5 – Mar 24, 24 sap days2419941994: Mar 14 – Apr 8, 14 sap days1419931993: Mar 9 – Mar 27, 18 sap days1819921992: Mar 20 – Apr 7, 25 sap days2519911991: Feb 24 – Mar 20, 26 sap days26
Each bar runs from the season's opening signal to its closing signal, estimated from daily Daymet temperatures at Chatham. Dashed lines mark the typical dates. The right column counts freeze-thaw sap days from December through May.

Maple production

Chatham-Kent 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 18 in Chatham-Kent, with 13,477 taps; in 2016, 26 farms and 6,667 taps. Among Ontario's 29 census divisions with a published tap count, Chatham-Kent ranks 25th, and 90th of the 94 in this atlas.

Over the five years the farm count changed −31% and taps +102%. 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.

Chatham-Kent maple production, 2016 and 2021 (Statistics Canada, Census of Agriculture)
Census yearFarms reporting tapsTaps
20211813,477E
2016266,667
  • E Statistics Canada quality grade: use with caution.

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 Chatham, the division's largest population centre in the 2021 Census; the cell sits at 183 m (600 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

Chatham-Kent sugaring questions

When should I tap maple trees in Chatham-Kent, Ontario?
In a typical year the sap starts running around March 2 near Chatham and the season winds down around March 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 2 and as late as Mar 20.
How much maple syrup does Chatham-Kent produce?
Statistics Canada doesn't publish syrup volume by census division. Its 2021 Census of Agriculture counted 18 farms reporting 13,477 maple taps in Chatham-Kent, number 25 of 29 Ontario divisions with a published count.
How many sap days does Chatham-Kent get in a season?
On average 25.6 freeze-thaw sap days from December through May at Chatham, of which about 13.5 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 2022 (40 sap days); the leanest was 1994 (14).
Where do these dates come from?
From 35 seasons of daily high and low temperatures at Chatham (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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