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Pennsylvania · county maple atlas

Maple sugaring in Wayne County, Pennsylvania

Wayne County had 11 maple operations and 17,030 taps in the 2022 Census. Around Honesdale, sap usually runs from March 7 to April 6. Here's the long-run pattern, 36 seasons of sap weather, and the outlook this week.
Too early to tapAbout 152 days until the usual start.
Sap starts
Mar 7
typical year
Season ends
Apr 6
about 4 weeks
Sap days / season
49.9
1991–2026 average
Taps, 2022
17,030
#7 of 45 in PA

Sap-flow outlook at Honesdale right now

Full Pennsylvania forecast →

Forecast for Honesdale, PA

Updated Oct 6, 9:14 AM EDT

Off-season for now. Sap needs freezing nights, and none are in sight. Wayne County's season usually opens around March 7, which is 152 days away.

No freeze-thaw days in the forecast

freeze thaw 32°F

  1. WedOct 7
    37° / 67°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  2. ThuOct 8
    48° / 69°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  3. FriOct 9
    43° / 64°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  4. SatOct 10
    41° / 66°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  5. SunOct 11
    44° / 68°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  6. MonOct 12
    50° / 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 Honesdale

Freeze-thaw weather at Honesdale peaks in the weeks of Feb 16 to Apr 6, which hold about 49% of a season's sap days. March is the busiest month.
Typical season: Mar 7 – Apr 60246Week of Dec 1: 2.6 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 8: 2.2 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 15: 2.0 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 22: 2.2 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 29: 1.6 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 5: 1.6 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 12: 1.6 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 19: 1.3 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 26: 1.4 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 2: 2.0 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 9: 2.1 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 16: 2.5 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 23: 2.5 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 2: 2.9 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 9: 3.1 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 16: 3.3 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 23: 3.8 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 30: 2.9 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 6: 3.3 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 13: 1.9 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 20: 1.7 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 27: 1.0 sap days on averageWeek of May 4: 0.2 sap days on averageWeek of May 11: 0.2 sap days on averageWeek of May 18: 0.1 sap days on averageWeek of May 25: 0.0 sap days on averageDecJanFebMarAprMaytaps in ~Mar 7
Average number of freeze-thaw sap days in each week of the season at Honesdale, 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 2; the middle half of seasons fell between Feb 22 and Mar 9. Earliest Feb 9 (2024), latest Mar 17 (2001).
Closing signal
Median Apr 3; middle half between Mar 27 and Apr 10. Earliest Mar 13 (2024), latest Apr 20 (2001).
Sap days by month
Dec20%Jan13%Feb18%Mar29%Apr19%May1%

36 seasons of sap weather

Wayne County seasons, 1991–2026

The best sap year at Honesdale was 2002 with 75 freeze-thaw days; the leanest was 2003 with 30. 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 22 – Mar 29, 42 sap days4220252025: Feb 22 – Mar 24, 38 sap days3820242024: Feb 9 – Mar 13, 49 sap days4920232023: Feb 19 – Mar 25, 62 sap days6220222022: Feb 25 – Mar 31, 51 sap days5120212021: Mar 2 – Apr 6, 39 sap days3920202020: Feb 20 – Mar 27, 66 sap days6620192019: Mar 8 – Apr 11, 44 sap days4420182018: Mar 12 – Apr 12, 52 sap days5220172017: Feb 26 – Mar 30, 45 sap days4520162016: Feb 16 – Mar 23, 57 sap days5720152015: Mar 17 – Apr 16, 33 sap days3320142014: Mar 11 – Apr 10, 51 sap days5120132013: Mar 12 – Apr 8, 56 sap days5620122012: Feb 14 – Mar 16, 73 sap days7320112011: Mar 8 – Apr 10, 37 sap days3720102010: Feb 24 – Mar 28, 43 sap days4320092009: Mar 1 – Mar 26, 48 sap days4820082008: Mar 9 – Apr 5, 47 sap days4720072007: Feb 26 – Apr 1, 45 sap days4520062006: Feb 25 – Mar 30, 56 sap days5620052005: Mar 7 – Apr 10, 48 sap days4820042004: Mar 6 – Apr 10, 44 sap days4420032003: Mar 10 – Apr 14, 30 sap days3020022002: Feb 24 – Mar 29, 75 sap days7520012001: Mar 17 – Apr 20, 43 sap days4320002000: Feb 18 – Mar 24, 49 sap days4919991999: Mar 2 – Apr 6, 64 sap days6419981998: Feb 22 – Mar 26, 54 sap days5419971997: Mar 3 – Apr 3, 61 sap days6119961996: Mar 9 – Apr 11, 48 sap days4819951995: Feb 13 – Mar 20, 56 sap days5619941994: Mar 11 – Apr 9, 51 sap days5119931993: Mar 12 – Apr 14, 39 sap days3919921992: Mar 13 – Apr 16, 44 sap days4419911991: Feb 27 – Apr 3, 55 sap days55
Each bar runs from the season's opening signal to its closing signal, estimated from daily temperatures at Honesdale. Dashed lines mark the typical dates. The right column counts freeze-thaw sap days from December through May.

Maple production

Wayne County in the Census of Agriculture

USDA counts maple operations every five years. In Wayne County the 2022 Census found 11 farms making syrup (-48% since 2017), with taps -25% and syrup output -43% over the same five years. That works out to about 0.19 gallons of syrup per tap in 2022 (0.25 in 2017). Among the 385 counties in this atlas, Wayne County ranks 102 by taps.

Wayne County maple production, 2017 and 2022 (USDA Census of Agriculture)
Census yearFarmsTapsGallons of syrupGal / tap
20221117,0303,2040.19
20172122,8245,6270.25

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 Honesdale (1,132ft), 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

Wayne County sugaring questions

When should I tap maple trees in Wayne County, Pennsylvania?
In a typical year the sap starts running around March 7 near Honesdale and the season winds down around April 6. 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 9 and as late as Mar 17.
How much maple syrup does Wayne County produce?
The 2022 Census of Agriculture counted 11 maple operations in Wayne County with 17,030 taps producing 3,204 gallons of syrup, ranking 7 of 45 Pennsylvania's counties with published tap counts.
How many sap days does Wayne County get in a season?
On average 49.9 freeze-thaw sap days from December through May at Honesdale, of which about 13.8 are textbook days with a night in the 20s and a day in the 40s. The best season since 1991 was 2002 (75 sap days); the leanest was 2003 (30).
Where do these dates come from?
From 36 seasons of daily high and low temperatures at Honesdale (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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