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Ontario · maple atlas

Maple sugaring in Prince Edward, Ontario

Prince Edward 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 24 farms reporting maple taps here (taps withheld by Statistics Canada). Around Picton, sap usually runs from March 10 to April 9. 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 9
about 4 weeks
Sap days / season
29.5
1991–2025 average
Taps, 2021
withheld
by Statistics Canada

Sap-flow outlook at Picton right now

Full Ontario forecast →

Forecast for Picton, ON

Updated Oct 7, 11:00 AM EDT

Off-season for now. Sap needs freezing nights, and none are in sight. Prince Edward'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 Picton

Freeze-thaw weather at Picton 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 90246Week of Dec 1: 1.4 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 8: 1.4 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: 1.0 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: 0.9 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 26: 0.6 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 2: 0.9 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: 1.4 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 2: 1.6 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: 2.5 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 30: 2.5 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 6: 2.3 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 13: 1.0 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 20: 0.8 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: 0.0 sap days on averageWeek of May 18: 0.0 sap days on averageWeek of May 25: 0.0 sap days on averageDecJanFebMarAprMaytaps in ~Mar 10
Average number of freeze-thaw sap days in each week of the season at Picton, 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 Feb 28 and Mar 16. Earliest Feb 13 (2012), latest Mar 22 (1993).
Closing signal
Median Apr 9; middle half between Apr 3 and Apr 14. Earliest Mar 12 (2012), latest Apr 23 (2018).
Sap days by month
Dec19%Jan12%Feb15%Mar32%Apr20%May0%

35 seasons of sap weather

Prince Edward seasons, 1991–2025

The best sap year at Picton was 2020 with 44 freeze-thaw days; the leanest was 1993 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: Mar 11 – Apr 10, 29 sap days2920242024: Feb 20 – Mar 26, 29 sap days2920232023: Mar 8 – Apr 10, 35 sap days3520222022: Mar 7 – Apr 11, 30 sap days3020212021: Mar 3 – Apr 4, 28 sap days2820202020: Feb 28 – Apr 3, 44 sap days4420192019: Mar 15 – Apr 17, 41 sap days4120182018: Mar 20 – Apr 23, 38 sap days3820172017: Feb 27 – Mar 30, 29 sap days2920162016: Feb 26 – Mar 31, 34 sap days3420152015: Mar 16 – Apr 6, 26 sap days2620142014: Mar 17 – Apr 20, 27 sap days2720132013: Mar 12 – Apr 6, 39 sap days3920122012: Feb 13 – Mar 12, 35 sap days3520112011: Mar 10 – Apr 9, 22 sap days2220102010: Feb 26 – Mar 30, 20 sap days2020092009: Mar 10 – Apr 14, 34 sap days3420082008: Mar 15 – Apr 7, 18 sap days1820072007: Mar 10 – Apr 11, 25 sap days2520062006: Feb 28 – Mar 30, 30 sap days3020052005: Mar 19 – Apr 12, 32 sap days3220042004: Mar 11 – Apr 13, 29 sap days2920032003: Mar 16 – Apr 17, 24 sap days2420022002: Mar 5 – Apr 7, 36 sap days3620012001: Mar 16 – Apr 19, 23 sap days2320002000: Feb 20 – Mar 20, 28 sap days2819991999: Mar 4 – Apr 5, 34 sap days3419981998: Feb 25 – Mar 25, 23 sap days2319971997: Mar 17 – Apr 15, 24 sap days2419961996: Mar 18 – Apr 16, 32 sap days3219951995: Feb 26 – Apr 2, 34 sap days3419941994: Mar 15 – Apr 12, 26 sap days2619931993: Mar 22 – Apr 14, 17 sap days1719921992: Mar 19 – Apr 16, 28 sap days2819911991: Mar 2 – Apr 4, 30 sap days30
Each bar runs from the season's opening signal to its closing signal, estimated from daily Daymet temperatures at Picton. Dashed lines mark the typical dates. The right column counts freeze-thaw sap days from December through May.

Maple production

Prince Edward 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 24 in Prince Edward; in 2016, 30 farms and 15,334 taps.

Over the five years the farm count changed −20%. 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.

Prince Edward maple production, 2016 and 2021 (Statistics Canada, Census of Agriculture)
Census yearFarms reporting tapsTaps
202124withheld by Statistics Canada
20163015,334
  • "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 Picton, the division's largest population centre in the 2021 Census; the cell sits at 97 m (318 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

Prince Edward sugaring questions

When should I tap maple trees in Prince Edward, Ontario?
In a typical year the sap starts running around March 10 near Picton and the season winds down around April 9. 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 22.
How much maple syrup does Prince Edward produce?
Statistics Canada doesn't publish syrup volume by census division. Its 2021 Census of Agriculture counted 24 farms reporting maple taps in Prince Edward; the tap count was withheld by Statistics Canada.
How many sap days does Prince Edward get in a season?
On average 29.5 freeze-thaw sap days from December through May at Picton, of which about 14.5 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 2020 (44 sap days); the leanest was 1993 (17).
Where do these dates come from?
From 35 seasons of daily high and low temperatures at Picton (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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