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Pennsylvania · county maple atlas

Maple sugaring in McKean County, Pennsylvania

McKean County had 11 maple operations and 8,505 taps in the 2022 Census. Around Smethport, sap usually runs from March 6 to April 8. Here's the long-run pattern, 36 seasons of sap weather, and the outlook this week.
Too early to tapAbout 151 days until the usual start.
Sap starts
Mar 6
typical year
Season ends
Apr 8
about 5 weeks
Sap days / season
47.9
1991–2026 average
Taps, 2022
8,505
#12 of 45 in PA

Sap-flow outlook at Smethport right now

Full Pennsylvania forecast →

Forecast for Smethport, PA

Updated Oct 6, 8:31 AM EDT

Off-season for now. Sap needs freezing nights, and none are in sight. McKean County's season usually opens around March 6, which is 151 days away.

No freeze-thaw days in the forecast

freeze thaw 32°F

  1. WedOct 7
    38° / 67°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  2. ThuOct 8
    48° / 66°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  3. FriOct 9
    38° / 62°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  4. SatOct 10
    37° / 67°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  5. SunOct 11
    45° / 69°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  6. MonOct 12
    49° / 67°
    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 Smethport

Freeze-thaw weather at Smethport peaks in the weeks of Feb 16 to Apr 20, which hold about 58% of a season's sap days. March is the busiest month.
Typical season: Mar 6 – Apr 80246Week of Dec 1: 1.7 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 8: 1.9 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 15: 1.7 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 22: 1.8 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 29: 1.4 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 5: 1.3 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 12: 1.3 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 19: 1.0 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 26: 1.1 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 2: 1.7 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 9: 1.5 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 16: 2.4 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 23: 2.3 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 2: 2.5 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 9: 2.9 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 16: 3.1 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 23: 3.3 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 30: 3.5 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 6: 3.4 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 13: 2.3 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 20: 2.3 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 27: 1.7 sap days on averageWeek of May 4: 0.8 sap days on averageWeek of May 11: 0.5 sap days on averageWeek of May 18: 0.4 sap days on averageWeek of May 25: 0.1 sap days on averageDecJanFebMarAprMaytaps in ~Mar 6
Average number of freeze-thaw sap days in each week of the season at Smethport, 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 Mar 1; the middle half of seasons fell between Feb 23 and Mar 8. Earliest Feb 7 (2024), latest Mar 14 (1996).
Closing signal
Median Apr 5; middle half between Mar 30 and Apr 10. Earliest Mar 13 (2024), latest Apr 18 (1996).
Sap days by month
Dec16%Jan11%Feb16%Mar28%Apr24%May4%

36 seasons of sap weather

McKean County seasons, 1991–2026

The best sap year at Smethport was 2002 with 72 freeze-thaw days; the leanest was 2011 with 32. 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 18 – Mar 25, 45 sap days4520252025: Feb 26 – Apr 2, 38 sap days3820242024: Feb 7 – Mar 13, 45 sap days4520232023: Feb 25 – Mar 31, 60 sap days6020222022: Mar 1 – Apr 5, 52 sap days5220212021: Mar 1 – Apr 5, 39 sap days3920202020: Feb 22 – Mar 27, 65 sap days6520192019: Mar 8 – Apr 6, 44 sap days4420182018: Mar 9 – Apr 12, 48 sap days4820172017: Feb 14 – Mar 21, 37 sap days3720162016: Feb 18 – Mar 24, 56 sap days5620152015: Mar 14 – Apr 13, 34 sap days3420142014: Mar 14 – Apr 18, 44 sap days4420132013: Mar 12 – Apr 8, 42 sap days4220122012: Feb 12 – Mar 15, 64 sap days6420112011: Mar 13 – Apr 7, 32 sap days3220102010: Feb 26 – Apr 1, 48 sap days4820092009: Mar 2 – Apr 6, 54 sap days5420082008: Mar 9 – Apr 11, 41 sap days4120072007: Feb 23 – Mar 30, 43 sap days4320062006: Feb 24 – Mar 30, 48 sap days4820052005: Mar 6 – Apr 10, 45 sap days4520042004: Mar 7 – Apr 11, 41 sap days4120032003: Mar 6 – Apr 10, 33 sap days3320022002: Feb 23 – Mar 29, 72 sap days7220012001: Mar 10 – Apr 14, 44 sap days4420002000: Feb 16 – Mar 21, 57 sap days5719991999: Mar 4 – Apr 6, 56 sap days5619981998: Feb 20 – Mar 26, 47 sap days4719971997: Feb 28 – Apr 3, 57 sap days5719961996: Mar 14 – Apr 18, 47 sap days4719951995: Feb 23 – Mar 30, 57 sap days5719941994: Mar 13 – Apr 12, 50 sap days5019931993: Mar 8 – Apr 7, 38 sap days3819921992: Mar 8 – Apr 11, 50 sap days5019911991: Mar 1 – Apr 4, 50 sap days50
Each bar runs from the season's opening signal to its closing signal, estimated from daily temperatures at Smethport. Dashed lines mark the typical dates. The right column counts freeze-thaw sap days from December through May.

Maple production

McKean County in the Census of Agriculture

USDA counts maple operations every five years. In McKean County the 2022 Census found 11 farms making syrup (-15% since 2017), with taps +25% and syrup output +49% over the same five years. That works out to about 0.12 gallons of syrup per tap in 2022 (0.10 in 2017). Among the 385 counties in this atlas, McKean County ranks 151 by taps.

McKean County maple production, 2017 and 2022 (USDA Census of Agriculture)
Census yearFarmsTapsGallons of syrupGal / tap
2022118,5051,0570.12
2017136,8137080.10

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 Smethport (1,844ft), 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

McKean County sugaring questions

When should I tap maple trees in McKean County, Pennsylvania?
In a typical year the sap starts running around March 6 near Smethport and the season winds down around April 8. 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 Feb 7 and as late as Mar 14.
How much maple syrup does McKean County produce?
The 2022 Census of Agriculture counted 11 maple operations in McKean County with 8,505 taps producing 1,057 gallons of syrup, ranking 12 of 45 Pennsylvania's counties with published tap counts.
How many sap days does McKean County get in a season?
On average 47.9 freeze-thaw sap days from December through May at Smethport, of which about 12.2 are textbook days with a night in the 20s and a day in the 40s. The best season since 1991 was 2002 (72 sap days); the leanest was 2011 (32).
Where do these dates come from?
From 36 seasons of daily high and low temperatures at Smethport (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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