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Ontario · maple atlas

Maple sugaring in Niagara, Ontario

Niagara is a regional municipality in Ontario. Ontario's census divisions are its counties, districts and regional municipalities. Statistics Canada's 2021 Census of Agriculture counted 14 farms reporting maple taps here (taps withheld by Statistics Canada). Around St. Catharines, sap usually runs from February 27 to March 29. Here's the long-run pattern, 35 seasons of sap weather, and the outlook this week.
Too early to tapAbout 143 days until the usual start.
Sap starts
Feb 27
weather estimate
Season ends
Mar 29
about 4 weeks
Sap days / season
26.3
1991–2025 average
Taps, 2021
withheld
by Statistics Canada

Sap-flow outlook at St. Catharines right now

Full Ontario forecast →

Forecast for St. Catharines, ON

Updated Oct 7, 11:00 AM EDT

Off-season for now. Sap needs freezing nights, and none are in sight. Niagara's season usually opens around February 27, which is 143 days away.

No freeze-thaw days in the forecast

freeze thaw 0 °C

  1. ThuOct 8
    10° / 19°
    No refreeze forecast
  2. FriOct 9
    10° / 18°
    No refreeze forecast
  3. SatOct 10
    13° / 22°
    No refreeze forecast
  4. SunOct 11
    18° / 21°
    No refreeze forecast
  5. MonOct 12
    14° / 18°
    No refreeze forecast
  6. TueOct 13
    14° / 16°
    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. Catharines

Freeze-thaw weather at St. Catharines peaks in the weeks of Feb 16 to Mar 30, which hold about 47% 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: Feb 27 – Mar 290246Week of Dec 1: 1.1 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 8: 1.2 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 15: 1.2 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: 1.2 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 19: 0.9 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 26: 0.9 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 2: 1.1 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 9: 1.2 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 16: 1.7 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 23: 1.4 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 2: 1.9 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 9: 1.9 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 16: 2.1 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 23: 1.9 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 30: 1.6 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 6: 1.2 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 13: 0.5 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 20: 0.3 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 27: 0.1 sap days on averageWeek of May 4: 0.0 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 ~Feb 27
Average number of freeze-thaw sap days in each week of the season at St. Catharines, 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 Feb 27; the middle half of seasons fell between Feb 19 and Mar 6. Earliest Jan 30 (2017), latest Mar 14 (2008).
Closing signal
Median Mar 29; middle half between Mar 19 and Apr 4. Earliest Mar 2 (2024), latest Apr 11 (1996).
Sap days by month
Dec19%Jan16%Feb21%Mar32%Apr11%May0%

35 seasons of sap weather

Niagara seasons, 1991–2025

The best sap year at St. Catharines was 1992 with 36 freeze-thaw days; the leanest was 2010 with 16. 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 23 – Mar 27, 28 sap days2820242024: Feb 3 – Mar 2, 22 sap days2220232023: Feb 18 – Mar 20, 31 sap days3120222022: Feb 26 – Apr 2, 26 sap days2620212021: Feb 22 – Mar 21, 28 sap days2820202020: Feb 13 – Mar 19, 31 sap days3120192019: Mar 4 – Apr 4, 34 sap days3420182018: Feb 26 – Apr 2, 33 sap days3320172017: Jan 30 – Mar 6, 22 sap days2220162016: Feb 8 – Mar 13, 27 sap days2720152015: Mar 12 – Apr 1, 25 sap days2520142014: Mar 10 – Apr 6, 25 sap days2520132013: Feb 28 – Apr 4, 33 sap days3320122012: Feb 7 – Mar 11, 28 sap days2820112011: Mar 7 – Mar 30, 16 sap days1620102010: Mar 4 – Mar 31, 16 sap days1620092009: Feb 27 – Mar 31, 28 sap days2820082008: Mar 14 – Apr 4, 25 sap days2520072007: Feb 22 – Mar 29, 24 sap days2420062006: Feb 6 – Mar 8, 30 sap days3020052005: Mar 5 – Mar 27, 21 sap days2120042004: Feb 26 – Mar 25, 24 sap days2420032003: Mar 12 – Apr 11, 17 sap days1720022002: Feb 8 – Mar 8, 32 sap days3220012001: Mar 8 – Apr 5, 21 sap days2120002000: Mar 1 – Mar 14, 26 sap days2619991999: Feb 25 – Mar 28, 28 sap days2819981998: Feb 20 – Mar 25, 25 sap days2519971997: Feb 27 – Apr 1, 31 sap days3119961996: Mar 13 – Apr 11, 35 sap days3519951995: Feb 15 – Mar 18, 21 sap days2119941994: Mar 8 – Apr 8, 24 sap days2419931993: Mar 11 – Apr 5, 21 sap days2119921992: Mar 5 – Apr 7, 36 sap days3619911991: Mar 5 – Mar 17, 25 sap days25
Each bar runs from the season's opening signal to its closing signal, estimated from daily Daymet temperatures at St. Catharines. Dashed lines mark the typical dates. The right column counts freeze-thaw sap days from December through May.

Maple production

Niagara 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 14 in Niagara; in 2016, 26 farms and 5,714 taps.

Over the five years the farm count changed −46%. 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.

Niagara maple production, 2016 and 2021 (Statistics Canada, Census of Agriculture)
Census yearFarms reporting tapsTaps
202114withheld by Statistics Canada
2016265,714
  • "Withheld by Statistics Canada": Statistics Canada suppressed the value as too unreliable to publish (F). The farm count is still published.

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. Catharines, the division's most populous municipality in the 2021 Census; the cell sits at 105 m (344 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

Niagara sugaring questions

When should I tap maple trees in Niagara, Ontario?
In a typical year the sap starts running around February 27 near St. Catharines and the season winds down around March 29. 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 Jan 30 and as late as Mar 14.
How much maple syrup does Niagara produce?
Statistics Canada doesn't publish syrup volume by census division. Its 2021 Census of Agriculture counted 14 farms reporting maple taps in Niagara; the tap count was withheld by Statistics Canada.
How many sap days does Niagara get in a season?
On average 26.3 freeze-thaw sap days from December through May at St. Catharines, of which about 12.5 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 1992 (36 sap days); the leanest was 2010 (16).
Where do these dates come from?
From 35 seasons of daily high and low temperatures at St. Catharines (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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