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Ontario · maple atlas

Maple sugaring in Elgin, Ontario

Elgin is a county in Ontario. Ontario's census divisions are its counties, districts and regional municipalities. Statistics Canada's 2021 Census of Agriculture counted 33 farms reporting maple taps and 16,486 taps here. Around St. Thomas, sap usually runs from March 1 to April 2. Here's the long-run pattern, 35 seasons of sap weather, and the outlook this week.
Too early to tapAbout 145 days until the usual start.
Sap starts
Mar 1
weather estimate
Season ends
Apr 2
about 5 weeks
Sap days / season
29.7
1991–2025 average
Taps, 2021
16,486
#23 of 29 in ON

Sap-flow outlook at St. Thomas right now

Full Ontario forecast →

Forecast for St. Thomas, ON

Updated Oct 7, 11:00 AM EDT

Off-season for now. Sap needs freezing nights, and none are in sight. Elgin's season usually opens around March 1, which is 145 days away.

No freeze-thaw days in the forecast

freeze thaw 0 °C

  1. ThuOct 8
    9° / 19°
    No refreeze forecast
  2. FriOct 9
    4° / 19°
    No refreeze forecast
  3. SatOct 10
    9° / 24°
    No refreeze forecast
  4. SunOct 11
    17° / 22°
    No refreeze forecast
  5. MonOct 12
    13° / 20°
    No refreeze forecast
  6. TueOct 13
    13° / 17°
    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 St. Thomas

Freeze-thaw weather at St. Thomas peaks in the weeks of Mar 2 to Apr 6, which hold about 43% 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 1 – Apr 20246Week of Dec 1: 1.3 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 8: 1.4 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 15: 1.3 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 22: 1.1 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 29: 0.7 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 5: 1.0 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 12: 0.7 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 19: 0.6 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 26: 0.7 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 2: 1.2 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: 1.5 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 2: 1.8 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 9: 1.8 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: 2.3 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 6: 1.9 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 13: 1.2 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 20: 1.0 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 27: 0.5 sap days on averageWeek of May 4: 0.2 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 1
Average number of freeze-thaw sap days in each week of the season at St. Thomas, 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 1; the middle half of seasons fell between Feb 25 and Mar 11. Earliest Feb 3 (2024), latest Mar 17 (2005).
Closing signal
Median Apr 2; middle half between Mar 25 and Apr 7. Earliest Mar 2 (2024), latest Apr 20 (2018).
Sap days by month
Dec18%Jan10%Feb18%Mar32%Apr20%May1%

35 seasons of sap weather

Elgin seasons, 1991–2025

The best sap year at St. Thomas was 2020 with 44 freeze-thaw days; the leanest was 2011 with 15. 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 25 – Apr 1, 32 sap days3220242024: Feb 3 – Mar 2, 32 sap days3220232023: Feb 27 – Apr 2, 40 sap days4020222022: Mar 5 – Apr 4, 41 sap days4120212021: Feb 24 – Mar 21, 30 sap days3020202020: Feb 22 – Mar 24, 44 sap days4420192019: Mar 5 – Apr 4, 31 sap days3120182018: Mar 16 – Apr 20, 38 sap days3820172017: Feb 7 – Mar 6, 23 sap days2320162016: Feb 12 – Mar 19, 39 sap days3920152015: Mar 12 – Apr 5, 27 sap days2720142014: Mar 14 – Apr 17, 25 sap days2520132013: Mar 11 – Apr 8, 35 sap days3520122012: Feb 10 – Mar 11, 39 sap days3920112011: Mar 9 – Apr 6, 15 sap days1520102010: Feb 28 – Mar 31, 22 sap days2220092009: Mar 1 – Apr 5, 37 sap days3720082008: Mar 14 – Apr 6, 28 sap days2820072007: Mar 9 – Mar 21, 20 sap days2020062006: Feb 23 – Mar 29, 25 sap days2520052005: Mar 17 – Mar 27, 17 sap days1720042004: Feb 28 – Mar 25, 26 sap days2620032003: Mar 10 – Apr 13, 20 sap days2020022002: Mar 3 – Apr 7, 40 sap days4020012001: Mar 7 – Apr 4, 21 sap days2120002000: Mar 1 – Mar 14, 25 sap days2519991999: Feb 28 – Mar 30, 37 sap days3719981998: Feb 20 – Mar 25, 32 sap days3219971997: Mar 1 – Apr 2, 29 sap days2919961996: Mar 13 – Apr 11, 25 sap days2519951995: Feb 19 – Mar 25, 30 sap days3019941994: Mar 10 – Apr 11, 25 sap days2519931993: Mar 11 – Apr 13, 23 sap days2319921992: Mar 13 – Apr 16, 33 sap days3319911991: Mar 1 – Apr 3, 33 sap days33
Each bar runs from the season's opening signal to its closing signal, estimated from daily Daymet temperatures at St. Thomas. Dashed lines mark the typical dates. The right column counts freeze-thaw sap days from December through May.

Maple production

Elgin 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 33 in Elgin, with 16,486 taps; in 2016, 42 farms and 10,537 taps. Among Ontario's 29 census divisions with a published tap count, Elgin ranks 23rd, and 88th of the 94 in this atlas.

Over the five years the farm count changed −21% and taps +56%. 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.

Elgin maple production, 2016 and 2021 (Statistics Canada, Census of Agriculture)
Census yearFarms reporting tapsTaps
20213316,486E
20164210,537
  • 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 St. Thomas, the division's most populous municipality in the 2021 Census; the cell sits at 232 m (761 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

Elgin sugaring questions

When should I tap maple trees in Elgin, Ontario?
In a typical year the sap starts running around March 1 near St. Thomas and the season winds down around April 2. 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 3 and as late as Mar 17.
How much maple syrup does Elgin produce?
Statistics Canada doesn't publish syrup volume by census division. Its 2021 Census of Agriculture counted 33 farms reporting 16,486 maple taps in Elgin, number 23 of 29 Ontario divisions with a published count.
How many sap days does Elgin get in a season?
On average 29.7 freeze-thaw sap days from December through May at St. Thomas, of which about 13.6 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 2020 (44 sap days); the leanest was 2011 (15).
Where do these dates come from?
From 35 seasons of daily high and low temperatures at St. Thomas (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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