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Ontario · maple atlas

Maple sugaring in Hastings, Ontario

Hastings is a county in Ontario. Ontario's census divisions are its counties, districts and regional municipalities. Statistics Canada's 2021 Census of Agriculture counted 65 farms reporting maple taps and 48,321 taps here. Around Belleville, sap usually runs from March 10 to April 11. Here's the long-run pattern, 35 seasons of sap weather, and the outlook this week.
Too early to tapAbout 154 days until the usual start.
Sap starts
Mar 10
weather estimate
Season ends
Apr 11
about 5 weeks
Sap days / season
32.6
1991–2025 average
Taps, 2021
48,321
#12 of 29 in ON

Sap-flow outlook at Belleville right now

Full Ontario forecast →

Forecast for Belleville, ON

Updated Oct 7, 11:00 AM EDT

Off-season for now. Sap needs freezing nights, and none are in sight. Hastings's season usually opens around March 10, which is 154 days away.

No freeze-thaw days in the forecast

freeze thaw 0 °C

  1. ThuOct 8
    9° / 17°
    No refreeze forecast
  2. FriOct 9
    7° / 18°
    No refreeze forecast
  3. SatOct 10
    3° / 18°
    No refreeze forecast
  4. SunOct 11
    14° / 22°
    No refreeze forecast
  5. MonOct 12
    12° / 19°
    No refreeze forecast
  6. TueOct 13
    11° / 15°
    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 Belleville

Freeze-thaw weather at Belleville 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 10 – Apr 110246Week of Dec 1: 1.6 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 8: 1.7 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 15: 1.2 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 22: 1.3 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 29: 1.0 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 5: 1.0 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 12: 0.8 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 19: 0.9 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: 0.9 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 16: 1.4 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 23: 1.5 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 2: 1.9 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 9: 2.1 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 16: 2.7 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 23: 2.6 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 30: 2.6 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 6: 2.6 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 13: 1.3 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: 0.1 sap days on averageWeek of May 11: 0.1 sap days on averageWeek of May 18: 0.0 sap days on averageWeek of May 25: 0.0 sap days on averageDecJanFebMarAprMaytaps in ~Mar 10
Average number of freeze-thaw sap days in each week of the season at Belleville, 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 10; the middle half of seasons fell between Mar 2 and Mar 15. Earliest Feb 13 (2012), latest Mar 20 (2018).
Closing signal
Median Apr 11; middle half between Apr 4 and Apr 16. Earliest Mar 12 (2012), latest Apr 23 (2018).
Sap days by month
Dec19%Jan12%Feb15%Mar32%Apr22%May1%

35 seasons of sap weather

Hastings seasons, 1991–2025

The best sap year at Belleville was 2020 with 46 freeze-thaw days; the leanest was 2008 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: Mar 14 – Apr 18, 31 sap days3120242024: Feb 20 – Mar 26, 32 sap days3220232023: Mar 8 – Apr 10, 41 sap days4120222022: Mar 8 – Apr 11, 31 sap days3120212021: Mar 3 – Apr 4, 31 sap days3120202020: Mar 3 – Apr 3, 46 sap days4620192019: Mar 15 – Apr 17, 38 sap days3820182018: Mar 20 – Apr 23, 41 sap days4120172017: Feb 28 – Mar 30, 28 sap days2820162016: Feb 27 – Mar 31, 35 sap days3520152015: Mar 16 – Apr 6, 29 sap days2920142014: Mar 18 – Apr 20, 28 sap days2820132013: Mar 12 – Apr 12, 41 sap days4120122012: Feb 13 – Mar 12, 37 sap days3720112011: Mar 10 – Apr 9, 24 sap days2420102010: Feb 24 – Mar 30, 21 sap days2120092009: Mar 11 – Apr 14, 35 sap days3520082008: Mar 13 – Apr 16, 20 sap days2020072007: Mar 10 – Apr 11, 27 sap days2720062006: Mar 2 – Apr 5, 35 sap days3520052005: Mar 10 – Apr 12, 37 sap days3720042004: Mar 12 – Apr 13, 32 sap days3220032003: Mar 16 – Apr 17, 24 sap days2420022002: Mar 6 – Apr 7, 37 sap days3720012001: Mar 16 – Apr 20, 30 sap days3020002000: Feb 20 – Mar 20, 35 sap days3519991999: Mar 5 – Apr 5, 44 sap days4419981998: Feb 25 – Mar 25, 31 sap days3119971997: Mar 18 – Apr 15, 28 sap days2819961996: Mar 17 – Apr 16, 32 sap days3219951995: Feb 22 – Mar 29, 39 sap days3919941994: Mar 15 – Apr 12, 33 sap days3319931993: Mar 12 – Apr 14, 22 sap days2219921992: Mar 19 – Apr 16, 26 sap days2619911991: Mar 2 – Apr 4, 39 sap days39
Each bar runs from the season's opening signal to its closing signal, estimated from daily Daymet temperatures at Belleville. Dashed lines mark the typical dates. The right column counts freeze-thaw sap days from December through May.

Maple production

Hastings 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 65 in Hastings, with 48,321 taps; in 2016, 122 farms and 50,665 taps. Among Ontario's 29 census divisions with a published tap count, Hastings ranks 12th, and 75th of the 94 in this atlas.

Over the five years the farm count changed −47% and taps −5%. 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.

Hastings maple production, 2016 and 2021 (Statistics Canada, Census of Agriculture)
Census yearFarms reporting tapsTaps
20216548,321E
201612250,665
  • 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 Belleville, the division's most populous municipality in the 2021 Census; the cell sits at 85 m (279 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

Hastings sugaring questions

When should I tap maple trees in Hastings, Ontario?
In a typical year the sap starts running around March 10 near Belleville and the season winds down around April 11. 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 20.
How much maple syrup does Hastings produce?
Statistics Canada doesn't publish syrup volume by census division. Its 2021 Census of Agriculture counted 65 farms reporting 48,321 maple taps in Hastings, number 12 of 29 Ontario divisions with a published count.
How many sap days does Hastings get in a season?
On average 32.6 freeze-thaw sap days from December through May at Belleville, of which about 15 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 (46 sap days); the leanest was 2008 (20).
Where do these dates come from?
From 35 seasons of daily high and low temperatures at Belleville (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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