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Pennsylvania · county maple atlas

Maple sugaring in Somerset County, Pennsylvania

Somerset County had 88 maple operations and 295,430 taps in the 2022 Census, the most of any county in Pennsylvania. Around Somerset, sap usually runs from February 25 to March 27. Here's the long-run pattern, 36 seasons of sap weather, and the outlook this week.
Too early to tapAbout 142 days until the usual start.
Sap starts
Feb 25
typical year
Season ends
Mar 27
about 4 weeks
Sap days / season
52.9
1991–2026 average
Taps, 2022
295,430
#1 of 45 in PA

Sap-flow outlook at Somerset right now

Full Pennsylvania forecast →

Forecast for Somerset, PA

Updated Oct 6, 8:31 AM EDT

Off-season for now. Sap needs freezing nights, and none are in sight. Somerset County's season usually opens around February 25, which is 142 days away.

No freeze-thaw days in the forecast

freeze thaw 32°F

  1. WedOct 7
    40° / 68°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  2. ThuOct 8
    51° / 68°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  3. FriOct 9
    42° / 64°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  4. SatOct 10
    42° / 67°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  5. SunOct 11
    47° / 64°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  6. MonOct 12
    51° / 66°
    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 Somerset

Freeze-thaw weather at Somerset peaks in the weeks of Feb 2 to Apr 13, which hold about 57% of a season's sap days. March is the busiest month.
Typical season: Feb 25 – Mar 270246Week of Dec 1: 2.4 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 8: 2.3 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 15: 2.3 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 22: 2.1 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 29: 1.8 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 5: 1.8 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 12: 1.7 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 19: 1.3 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 26: 1.8 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 2: 2.6 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 9: 2.1 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 16: 2.8 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 23: 2.6 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 2: 2.8 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 9: 2.8 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 16: 3.2 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 23: 3.2 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 30: 3.3 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 6: 2.7 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 13: 2.2 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 20: 1.9 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 27: 1.4 sap days on averageWeek of May 4: 0.8 sap days on averageWeek of May 11: 0.6 sap days on averageWeek of May 18: 0.4 sap days on averageWeek of May 25: 0.2 sap days on averageDecJanFebMarAprMaytaps in ~Feb 25
Average number of freeze-thaw sap days in each week of the season at Somerset, 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 20; the middle half of seasons fell between Feb 8 and Feb 26. Earliest Jan 19 (2017), latest Mar 13 (1994).
Closing signal
Median Mar 24; middle half between Mar 9 and Apr 2. Earliest Feb 18 (2017), latest Apr 15 (1994).
Sap days by month
Dec19%Jan14%Feb19%Mar25%Apr19%May4%

36 seasons of sap weather

Somerset County seasons, 1991–2026

The best sap year at Somerset was 1997 with 83 freeze-thaw days; the leanest was 2003 with 36. 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 10 – Mar 4, 39 sap days3920252025: Feb 13 – Mar 19, 43 sap days4320242024: Jan 31 – Mar 3, 40 sap days4020232023: Jan 23 – Feb 27, 55 sap days5520222022: Feb 14 – Mar 21, 53 sap days5320212021: Feb 23 – Mar 22, 40 sap days4020202020: Feb 4 – Mar 10, 57 sap days5720192019: Feb 27 – Apr 3, 39 sap days3920182018: Jan 26 – Feb 28, 43 sap days4320172017: Jan 19 – Feb 18, 40 sap days4020162016: Feb 8 – Mar 8, 53 sap days5320152015: Mar 4 – Apr 6, 52 sap days5220142014: Mar 8 – Apr 9, 52 sap days5220132013: Mar 7 – Apr 7, 52 sap days5220122012: Feb 9 – Mar 12, 67 sap days6720112011: Mar 4 – Apr 6, 45 sap days4520102010: Feb 23 – Mar 30, 39 sap days3920092009: Feb 21 – Mar 25, 63 sap days6320082008: Feb 26 – Apr 1, 54 sap days5420072007: Feb 16 – Mar 21, 46 sap days4620062006: Feb 6 – Mar 9, 58 sap days5820052005: Feb 22 – Mar 27, 56 sap days5620042004: Feb 22 – Mar 25, 42 sap days4220032003: Feb 26 – Apr 1, 36 sap days3620022002: Feb 2 – Mar 6, 60 sap days6020012001: Mar 3 – Apr 4, 51 sap days5120002000: Feb 2 – Mar 6, 55 sap days5519991999: Feb 24 – Mar 30, 66 sap days6619981998: Feb 12 – Mar 18, 53 sap days5319971997: Feb 19 – Mar 26, 83 sap days8319961996: Mar 8 – Apr 12, 56 sap days5619951995: Feb 13 – Mar 19, 66 sap days6619941994: Mar 13 – Apr 15, 77 sap days7719931993: Mar 7 – Apr 10, 64 sap days6419921992: Feb 3 – Mar 3, 54 sap days5419911991: Feb 20 – Mar 26, 57 sap days57
Each bar runs from the season's opening signal to its closing signal, estimated from daily temperatures at Somerset. Dashed lines mark the typical dates. The right column counts freeze-thaw sap days from December through May.

Maple production

Somerset County in the Census of Agriculture

USDA counts maple operations every five years. In Somerset County the 2022 Census found 88 farms making syrup (-3% since 2017), with taps +49% and syrup output +89% over the same five years. That works out to about 0.24 gallons of syrup per tap in 2022 (0.19 in 2017). Among the 385 counties in this atlas, Somerset County ranks 13 by taps.

Somerset County maple production, 2017 and 2022 (USDA Census of Agriculture)
Census yearFarmsTapsGallons of syrupGal / tap
202288295,43070,3680.24
201791198,12237,2820.19

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 Somerset (2,133ft), 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

Somerset County sugaring questions

When should I tap maple trees in Somerset County, Pennsylvania?
In a typical year the sap starts running around February 25 near Somerset and the season winds down around March 27. 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 19 and as late as Mar 13.
How much maple syrup does Somerset County produce?
The 2022 Census of Agriculture counted 88 maple operations in Somerset County with 295,430 taps producing 70,368 gallons of syrup, ranking 1 of 45 Pennsylvania's counties with published tap counts.
How many sap days does Somerset County get in a season?
On average 52.9 freeze-thaw sap days from December through May at Somerset, of which about 14.6 are textbook days with a night in the 20s and a day in the 40s. The best season since 1991 was 1997 (83 sap days); the leanest was 2003 (36).
Where do these dates come from?
From 36 seasons of daily high and low temperatures at Somerset (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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