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Ontario · maple atlas

Maple sugaring in Haldimand-Norfolk, Ontario

Haldimand-Norfolk 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 50 farms reporting maple taps and 17,582 taps here. Around Norfolk County, sap usually runs from March 1 to April 3. 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 3
about 5 weeks
Sap days / season
29.8
1991–2025 average
Taps, 2021
17,582
#22 of 29 in ON

Sap-flow outlook at Norfolk County right now

Full Ontario forecast →

Forecast for Norfolk County, ON

Updated Oct 7, 11:00 AM EDT

Off-season for now. Sap needs freezing nights, and none are in sight. Haldimand-Norfolk'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
    10° / 19°
    No refreeze forecast
  2. FriOct 9
    5° / 18°
    No refreeze forecast
  3. SatOct 10
    6° / 24°
    No refreeze forecast
  4. SunOct 11
    14° / 24°
    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 Norfolk County

Freeze-thaw weather at Norfolk County 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 1 – Apr 30246Week of Dec 1: 1.4 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 8: 1.3 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: 0.9 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 12: 0.9 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 19: 0.7 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 26: 0.6 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: 1.5 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 23: 1.7 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 2: 1.7 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 9: 1.9 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 16: 2.5 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 23: 2.1 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 30: 2.4 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: 0.9 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 27: 0.4 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 1
Average number of freeze-thaw sap days in each week of the season at Norfolk County, 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 24 and Mar 10. Earliest Feb 2 (2024), latest Apr 9 (2003).
Closing signal
Median Apr 3; middle half between Mar 27 and Apr 8. Earliest Mar 2 (2024), latest Apr 21 (2018).
Sap days by month
Dec19%Jan11%Feb18%Mar31%Apr20%May1%

35 seasons of sap weather

Haldimand-Norfolk seasons, 1991–2025

The best sap year at Norfolk County was 2020 with 48 freeze-thaw days; the leanest was 2003 with 17. 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, 29 sap days2920242024: Feb 2 – Mar 2, 32 sap days3220232023: Feb 27 – Apr 2, 39 sap days3920222022: Mar 3 – Apr 4, 44 sap days4420212021: Feb 22 – Mar 22, 35 sap days3520202020: Feb 20 – Mar 24, 48 sap days4820192019: Mar 6 – Apr 4, 35 sap days3520182018: Mar 17 – Apr 21, 31 sap days3120172017: Feb 8 – Mar 6, 22 sap days2220162016: Feb 11 – Mar 13, 37 sap days3720152015: Mar 14 – Apr 4, 28 sap days2820142014: Mar 16 – Apr 19, 26 sap days2620132013: Mar 11 – Apr 8, 34 sap days3420122012: Feb 10 – Mar 11, 34 sap days3420112011: Mar 9 – Apr 7, 22 sap days2220102010: Feb 28 – Mar 31, 17 sap days1720092009: Mar 4 – Apr 8, 34 sap days3420082008: Mar 14 – Apr 4, 23 sap days2320072007: Feb 25 – Mar 30, 21 sap days2120062006: Feb 23 – Mar 29, 29 sap days2920052005: Mar 6 – Apr 8, 29 sap days2920042004: Mar 4 – Apr 7, 30 sap days3020032003: Apr 9 – Apr 13, 17 sap days1720022002: Feb 25 – Mar 28, 36 sap days3620012001: Mar 9 – Apr 5, 24 sap days2420002000: Mar 1 – Mar 20, 24 sap days2419991999: Mar 1 – Mar 30, 31 sap days3119981998: Feb 21 – Mar 25, 24 sap days2419971997: Mar 1 – Apr 2, 32 sap days3219961996: Mar 15 – Apr 11, 28 sap days2819951995: Feb 15 – Mar 18, 31 sap days3119941994: Mar 10 – Apr 11, 30 sap days3019931993: Mar 11 – Apr 13, 20 sap days2019921992: Mar 9 – Apr 9, 38 sap days3819911991: Mar 1 – Apr 3, 29 sap days29
Each bar runs from the season's opening signal to its closing signal, estimated from daily Daymet temperatures at Norfolk County. Dashed lines mark the typical dates. The right column counts freeze-thaw sap days from December through May.

Maple production

Haldimand-Norfolk 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 50 in Haldimand-Norfolk, with 17,582 taps; in 2016, 51 farms and 13,069 taps. Among Ontario's 29 census divisions with a published tap count, Haldimand-Norfolk ranks 22nd, and 87th of the 94 in this atlas.

Over the five years the farm count changed −2% and taps +35%. 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.

Haldimand-Norfolk maple production, 2016 and 2021 (Statistics Canada, Census of Agriculture)
Census yearFarms reporting tapsTaps
20215017,582
20165113,069

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 Norfolk County, the division's most populous municipality in the 2021 Census; the cell sits at 236 m (774 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

Haldimand-Norfolk sugaring questions

When should I tap maple trees in Haldimand-Norfolk, Ontario?
In a typical year the sap starts running around March 1 near Norfolk County and the season winds down around April 3. 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 Apr 9.
How much maple syrup does Haldimand-Norfolk produce?
Statistics Canada doesn't publish syrup volume by census division. Its 2021 Census of Agriculture counted 50 farms reporting 17,582 maple taps in Haldimand-Norfolk, number 22 of 29 Ontario divisions with a published count.
How many sap days does Haldimand-Norfolk get in a season?
On average 29.8 freeze-thaw sap days from December through May at Norfolk County, of which about 13.7 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 (48 sap days); the leanest was 2003 (17).
Where do these dates come from?
From 35 seasons of daily high and low temperatures at Norfolk County (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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