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Pennsylvania · county maple atlas

Maple sugaring in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania

Dauphin County had 5 maple operations and 114 taps in the 2022 Census. Around Harrisburg, sap usually runs from February 11 to March 14. Here's the long-run pattern, 36 seasons of sap weather, and the outlook this week.
Too early to tapAbout 128 days until the usual start.
Sap starts
Feb 11
typical year
Season ends
Mar 14
about 4 weeks
Sap days / season
41.6
1991–2026 average
Taps, 2022
114
#37 of 45 in PA

Sap-flow outlook at Harrisburg right now

Full Pennsylvania forecast →

Forecast for Harrisburg, PA

Updated Oct 6, 8:31 AM EDT

Off-season for now. Sap needs freezing nights, and none are in sight. Dauphin County's season usually opens around February 11, which is 128 days away.

No freeze-thaw days in the forecast

freeze thaw 32°F

  1. WedOct 7
    42° / 71°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  2. ThuOct 8
    51° / 75°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  3. FriOct 9
    50° / 71°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  4. SatOct 10
    49° / 71°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  5. SunOct 11
    51° / 70°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  6. MonOct 12
    56° / 71°
    No refreeze forecast

Data: National Weather Service. Verdicts use freeze-thaw thresholds from maple field research; your woods may run a little differently.

When the sap runs

The sugaring calendar at Harrisburg

Freeze-thaw weather at Harrisburg peaks in the weeks of Dec 1 to Mar 23, which hold about 96% of a season's sap days. December is the busiest month.
Typical season: Feb 11 – Mar 140246Week of Dec 1: 2.2 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 8: 2.6 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 15: 2.5 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 22: 2.4 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 29: 1.9 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 5: 1.9 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 12: 2.0 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 19: 1.9 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 26: 2.1 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 2: 2.6 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 9: 2.6 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 16: 3.0 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 23: 2.6 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 2: 2.6 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 9: 2.8 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 16: 2.0 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 23: 2.0 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 30: 0.9 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 6: 0.6 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 13: 0.1 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 20: 0.0 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 27: 0.0 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 11
Average number of freeze-thaw sap days in each week of the season at Harrisburg, 1991–2026. A sap day is an overnight low under 30.2 °F followed by an afternoon high over 37.4 °F. The shaded band is the typical season.

Year-to-year spread

Opening signal
Median Feb 6; the middle half of seasons fell between Jan 26 and Feb 12. Earliest Jan 8 (2023), latest Mar 2 (2015).
Closing signal
Median Mar 11; middle half between Feb 28 and Mar 17. Earliest Feb 8 (2023), latest Mar 31 (1994).
Sap days by month
Dec26%Jan21%Feb26%Mar24%Apr3%May0%

36 seasons of sap weather

Dauphin County seasons, 1991–2026

The best sap year at Harrisburg was 2012 with 57 freeze-thaw days; the leanest was 2010 with 26. 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 days20262026: Feb 4 – Mar 4, 40 sap days4020252025: Feb 7 – Mar 10, 38 sap days3820242024: Jan 23 – Feb 26, 44 sap days4420232023: Jan 8 – Feb 8, 46 sap days4620222022: Feb 9 – Mar 16, 44 sap days4420212021: Feb 12 – Mar 17, 45 sap days4520202020: Jan 13 – Feb 17, 41 sap days4120192019: Feb 13 – Mar 20, 38 sap days3820182018: Jan 24 – Feb 28, 50 sap days5020172017: Jan 19 – Feb 19, 39 sap days3920162016: Feb 5 – Mar 9, 39 sap days3920152015: Mar 2 – Mar 30, 33 sap days3320142014: Feb 27 – Mar 28, 37 sap days3720132013: Feb 15 – Mar 22, 45 sap days4520122012: Jan 26 – Feb 28, 57 sap days5720112011: Feb 11 – Mar 16, 43 sap days4320102010: Feb 7 – Mar 6, 26 sap days2620092009: Feb 11 – Mar 15, 41 sap days4120082008: Feb 6 – Mar 12, 46 sap days4620072007: Feb 7 – Mar 13, 43 sap days4320062006: Jan 13 – Feb 17, 45 sap days4520052005: Feb 10 – Mar 17, 37 sap days3720042004: Feb 6 – Mar 13, 48 sap days4820032003: Feb 20 – Mar 21, 33 sap days3320022002: Jan 17 – Feb 20, 48 sap days4820012001: Feb 14 – Mar 20, 38 sap days3820002000: Jan 28 – Feb 23, 30 sap days3019991999: Jan 27 – Feb 28, 45 sap days4519981998: Jan 11 – Feb 11, 44 sap days4419971997: Jan 26 – Feb 27, 46 sap days4619961996: Feb 12 – Mar 14, 33 sap days3319951995: Feb 6 – Mar 12, 41 sap days4119941994: Feb 26 – Mar 31, 34 sap days3419931993: Feb 22 – Mar 21, 40 sap days4019921992: Jan 30 – Mar 3, 51 sap days5119911991: Jan 26 – Mar 1, 48 sap days48
Each bar runs from the season's opening signal to its closing signal, estimated from daily temperatures at Harrisburg. Dashed lines mark the typical dates. The right column counts freeze-thaw sap days from December through May.

Maple production

Dauphin County in the Census of Agriculture

USDA counts maple operations every five years. In Dauphin County the 2022 Census found 5 farms making syrup (+67% since 2017). That works out to about 0.07 gallons of syrup per tap in 2022. Among the 385 counties in this atlas, Dauphin County ranks 360 by taps.

Dauphin County maple production, 2017 and 2022 (USDA Census of Agriculture)
Census yearFarmsTapsGallons of syrupGal / tap
2022511480.07
20173withheldwithheld—

“Withheld” means USDA suppressed the figure to avoid disclosing data for individual operations; the farm count is still published.

Nearby

Neighboring maple counties

Distances are between reference towns; typical dates are each county's own estimate.

About these numbers

The season dates are estimated from 36 seasons of daily high and low temperatures for the PRISM 4-km grid cell at Harrisburg (381ft), scored with the same freeze-thaw rule as our live forecast: a sap day is an overnight low under 30.2 °F followed by an afternoon high over 37.4 °F. Each season's closing signal is the last sap day before accumulated warmth reaches a threshold, and the opening signal sits five weeks before that, never earlier than the first real freeze-thaw week. Tested against 117 state-seasons of USDA-reported dates, the rule lands within 5.5 days of the reported close and 6.6 days of the reported opening on average, and the typical dates shown here are scaled to Pennsylvania's USDA record (12 years). Production figures are copied from the Census as published. Full method, calibration tables and the downloadable dataset →

Sources · 6

  1. 1.2022 Census of Agriculture, County Level Data — Pennsylvania, Table 37: Maple Syrup, 2022 and 2017 · USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service
  2. 2.PRISM daily temperature grids (AN81d, 4 km), accessed 2026-10-05 · PRISM Group, Oregon State University, https://prism.oregonstate.edu
  3. 3.Applied Climate Information System (ACIS) web services · NOAA Regional Climate Centers
  4. 4.USDA NASS maple syrup reports — approximate average season opened and closed dates, 2011–2022 · USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service (mirrored by the University of Vermont)
  5. 5.Sap flow in sugar maple: timing and weather drivers (Frontiers in Agronomy, 2025) · de Lima Santos et al.
  6. 6.GeoNames gazetteer (cities500), CC BY 4.0 · GeoNames

FAQ

Dauphin County sugaring questions

When should I tap maple trees in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania?
In a typical year the sap starts running around February 11 near Harrisburg and the season winds down around March 14. Have your taps in a day or two before the first forecast string of freezing nights and 40 °F days. In the past 36 seasons the weather signal came as early as Jan 8 and as late as Mar 2.
How much maple syrup does Dauphin County produce?
The 2022 Census of Agriculture counted 5 maple operations in Dauphin County with 114 taps producing 8 gallons of syrup, ranking 37 of 45 Pennsylvania's counties with published tap counts.
How many sap days does Dauphin County get in a season?
On average 41.6 freeze-thaw sap days from December through May at Harrisburg, of which about 20 are textbook days with a night in the 20s and a day in the 40s. The best season since 1991 was 2012 (57 sap days); the leanest was 2010 (26).
Where do these dates come from?
From 36 seasons of daily high and low temperatures at Harrisburg (PRISM 4-km grid), scored with the same freeze-thaw rule as our live forecast, then calibrated against USDA's reported season dates for Pennsylvania. They describe a typical year at one point in the county; your sugarbush, slope and elevation can shift them by days.

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