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Quebec · maple atlas

Maple sugaring in Bonaventure, Quebec

Bonaventure is a regional county municipality (MRC) in Quebec. Statistics Canada's 2021 Census of Agriculture counted 10 farms reporting maple taps here (taps withheld by Statistics Canada). Around New Richmond, sap usually runs from March 28 to May 1. Here's the long-run pattern, 35 seasons of sap weather, and the outlook this week.
Too early to tapAbout 172 days until the usual start.
Sap starts
Mar 28
producers' record
Season ends
May 1
about 5 weeks
Sap days / season
26.1
1991–2025 average
Taps, 2021
withheld
by Statistics Canada

Sap-flow outlook at New Richmond right now

Full Quebec forecast →

Forecast for New Richmond, QC

Updated Oct 7, 11:30 AM EDT

Only marginal days ahead

freeze thaw 0 °C

  1. ThuOct 8
    7° / 15°
    No refreeze forecast
  2. FriOct 9
    8° / 14°
    No refreeze forecast
  3. SatOct 10
    3° / 9°
    No refreeze forecast
  4. SunOct 11
    -1° / 8°
    Maybe a light run
  5. MonOct 12
    7° / 12°
    No refreeze forecast
  6. TueOct 13
    4° / 9°
    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 New Richmond

Freeze-thaw weather at New Richmond peaks in the weeks of Mar 23 to Apr 27, which hold about 60% of a season's sap days. April is the busiest month. Typical dates are anchored to producers' reported season in the region (Houle et al. 2015, 1999–2011): this division's weather signals, moved 6.8 days earlier for the opening and 1.4 for the closing, the average gap to that record. The spread and the year-by-year bars below are the unadjusted weather signal.
Typical season: Mar 28 – May 10246Week of Dec 1: 1.0 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 8: 0.5 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 15: 0.5 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 22: 0.5 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 29: 0.1 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 5: 0.3 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 12: 0.3 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 19: 0.3 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 26: 0.2 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 2: 0.2 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 9: 0.1 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 16: 0.5 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 23: 0.6 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 2: 0.7 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 9: 1.2 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 16: 1.7 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 23: 2.1 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 30: 2.5 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 6: 3.1 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 13: 3.2 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 20: 2.6 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 27: 2.3 sap days on averageWeek of May 4: 0.9 sap days on averageWeek of May 11: 0.4 sap days on averageWeek of May 18: 0.3 sap days on averageWeek of May 25: 0.0 sap days on averageDecJanFebMarAprMaytaps in ~Mar 28
Average number of freeze-thaw sap days in each week of the season at New Richmond, 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 Apr 4; the middle half of seasons fell between Apr 1 and Apr 8. Earliest Mar 17 (2010), latest Apr 21 (2018).
Closing signal
Median May 2; middle half between Apr 26 and May 6. Earliest Apr 15 (2021), latest May 13 (2014).
Sap days by month
Dec10%Jan4%Feb5%Mar25%Apr47%May9%

35 seasons of sap weather

Bonaventure seasons, 1991–2025

The best sap year at New Richmond was 1992 with 39 freeze-thaw days; the leanest was 2018 with 15. 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 31 – May 2, 17 sap days1720242024: Mar 30 – Apr 28, 36 sap days3620232023: Apr 2 – Apr 21, 19 sap days1920222022: Apr 6 – May 9, 34 sap days3420212021: Mar 22 – Apr 15, 16 sap days1620202020: Apr 13 – May 10, 36 sap days3620192019: Apr 6 – May 2, 19 sap days1920182018: Apr 21 – Apr 23, 15 sap days1520172017: Apr 5 – Apr 25, 22 sap days2220162016: Apr 8 – May 2, 31 sap days3120152015: Apr 8 – May 3, 19 sap days1920142014: Apr 10 – May 13, 25 sap days2520132013: Mar 31 – May 4, 37 sap days3720122012: Mar 23 – Apr 20, 36 sap days3620112011: Apr 4 – May 2, 20 sap days2020102010: Mar 17 – Apr 17, 23 sap days2320092009: Mar 31 – May 5, 27 sap days2720082008: Apr 5 – Apr 29, 22 sap days2220072007: Apr 3 – Apr 27, 32 sap days3220062006: Mar 22 – Apr 26, 29 sap days2920052005: Apr 1 – Apr 23, 32 sap days3220042004: Apr 1 – Apr 30, 33 sap days3320032003: Apr 8 – May 6, 18 sap days1820022002: Apr 7 – May 9, 34 sap days3420012001: Apr 3 – May 6, 26 sap days2620002000: Apr 1 – May 2, 29 sap days2919991999: Mar 26 – Apr 24, 19 sap days1919981998: Apr 9 – Apr 23, 16 sap days1619971997: Apr 8 – May 6, 20 sap days2019961996: Apr 2 – Apr 30, 26 sap days2619951995: Apr 9 – May 3, 26 sap days2619941994: Apr 5 – May 8, 27 sap days2719931993: Apr 1 – May 3, 23 sap days2319921992: Apr 8 – May 12, 39 sap days3919911991: Apr 4 – May 6, 29 sap days29
Each bar runs from the season's opening signal to its closing signal, estimated from daily Daymet temperatures at New Richmond. Dashed lines mark the typical dates. The right column counts freeze-thaw sap days from December through May.

Maple production

Bonaventure 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 10 in Bonaventure; in 2016, 9 farms.

Over the five years the farm count changed +11%. 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.

Bonaventure maple production, 2016 and 2021 (Statistics Canada, Census of Agriculture)
Census yearFarms reporting tapsTaps
202110withheld by Statistics Canada
20169withheld by Statistics Canada
  • "Withheld by Statistics Canada": Statistics Canada suppressed the value as too unreliable to publish (F) or to protect confidentiality (x). The farm count is still published.

A separate, newer source

PPAQ regional fact sheet, 2026

The Producteurs et productrices acéricoles du Québec (PPAQ) publish a fact sheet for each sugaring region, with figures for every MRC. These are from the 2026 Bas-Saint-Laurent – Gaspésie sheet. They count enterprises registered under the joint marketing plan, by where the sugarbush is; the census above counts 2021 farms by their main location. The two sit side by side here and are never added together.

Enterprises
10
under the joint marketing plan
Taps
32,212
as printed
Annual production
107,910 lb
estimate, pounds of syrup
Value
$361,499
Canadian dollars

Taps by forest ownership

Private forest 41%Public forest 59%

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 New Richmond, the division's largest population centre in the 2021 Census; the cell sits at 37 m (121 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. In Quebec it reproduces the pattern between regions in producers' reported seasons (Houle et al. 2015), and the typical dates are anchored to that record. Production figures are copied from Statistics Canada as published; the PPAQ figures, from its 2026 regional fact sheet, are shown separately. Full method, the Daymet checks and the Quebec validation → Run a sugarhouse here? Put this sap forecast on your own website →

Sources · 9

  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.Fiche région 2026 : Bas-Saint-Laurent – Gaspésie · Producteurs et productrices acéricoles du Québec
  4. 4.Daymet: Daily Surface Weather Data on a 1-km Grid for North America, Version 4 R1 · ORNL DAAC
  5. 5.Impacts of climate change on the timing of the production season of maple syrup in eastern Canada (PLOS ONE 10(12): e0144844, 2015) · Houle et al.
  6. 6.Sap flow in sugar maple: timing and weather drivers (Frontiers in Agronomy, 2025) · de Lima Santos et al.
Show 3 more
  1. 7.2021 Census cartographic boundary files (census divisions, population centres) · Statistics Canada
  2. 8.Population and dwelling counts, 2021 Census (Tables 98-10-0002-01 and 98-10-0011-01) · Statistics Canada
  3. 9.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.
  • Québec MRC figures: Producteurs et productrices acéricoles du Québec, Fiches région 2026 (production estimates from Groupe AGÉCO).

FAQ

Bonaventure sugaring questions

When should I tap maple trees in Bonaventure, Quebec?
In a typical year the sap starts running around March 28 near New Richmond and the season winds down around May 1. 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 Mar 17 and as late as Apr 21.
How much maple syrup does Bonaventure produce?
Statistics Canada doesn't publish syrup volume by census division. Its 2021 Census of Agriculture counted 10 farms reporting maple taps in Bonaventure; the tap count was withheld by Statistics Canada. Separately, the PPAQ's 2026 fact sheet for the Bas-Saint-Laurent – Gaspésie region estimates annual production at 107,910 lb of syrup from 32,212 taps.
How many sap days does Bonaventure get in a season?
On average 26.1 freeze-thaw sap days from December through May at New Richmond, of which about 11.4 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 1992 (39 sap days); the leanest was 2018 (15).
Where do these dates come from?
From 35 seasons of daily high and low temperatures at New Richmond (Daymet 1-km grid), scored with the same freeze-thaw rule as our live forecast. In Quebec they are anchored to producers' reported season in the region (Houle et al. 2015, 1999–2011). 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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