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Quebec · maple atlas

Maple sugaring in Joliette, Quebec

Joliette is a regional county municipality (MRC) in Quebec. Statistics Canada's 2021 Census of Agriculture counted 28 farms reporting maple taps and 52,495 taps here. Around Joliette, sap usually runs from March 12 to April 16. Here's the long-run pattern, 35 seasons of sap weather, and the outlook this week.
Too early to tapAbout 156 days until the usual start.
Sap starts
Mar 12
producers' record
Season ends
Apr 16
about 5 weeks
Sap days / season
26.6
1991–2025 average
Taps, 2021
52,495
#58 of 61 in QC

Sap-flow outlook at Joliette right now

Full Quebec forecast →

Forecast for Joliette, QC

Updated Oct 7, 11:30 AM EDT

Off-season for now. Sap needs freezing nights, and none are in sight. Joliette's season usually opens around March 12, which is 156 days away.

No freeze-thaw days in the forecast

freeze thaw 0 °C

  1. ThuOct 8
    11° / 16°
    No refreeze forecast
  2. FriOct 9
    8° / 14°
    No refreeze forecast
  3. SatOct 10
    2° / 14°
    No refreeze forecast
  4. SunOct 11
    7° / 23°
    No refreeze forecast
  5. MonOct 12
    12° / 17°
    No refreeze forecast
  6. TueOct 13
    10° / 14°
    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 Joliette

Freeze-thaw weather at Joliette peaks in the weeks of Mar 9 to Apr 6, which hold about 51% of a season's sap days. March 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 12 – Apr 160246Week of Dec 1: 0.9 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 8: 0.8 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 15: 0.7 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 22: 0.5 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 29: 0.5 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 5: 0.4 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 12: 0.3 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 19: 0.2 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 26: 0.3 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 2: 0.5 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 9: 0.5 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 16: 0.7 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 23: 1.0 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 2: 1.3 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 9: 2.1 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 16: 2.2 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 23: 2.9 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 30: 3.3 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 6: 3.1 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 13: 1.9 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 20: 1.3 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 27: 0.7 sap days on averageWeek of May 4: 0.2 sap days on averageWeek of May 11: 0.1 sap days on averageWeek of May 18: 0.0 sap days on averageWeek of May 25: 0.0 sap days on averageDecJanFebMarAprMaytaps in ~Mar 12
Average number of freeze-thaw sap days in each week of the season at Joliette, 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 Mar 19; the middle half of seasons fell between Mar 16 and Mar 23. Earliest Mar 2 (2010), latest Mar 31 (2014).
Closing signal
Median Apr 17; middle half between Apr 13 and Apr 22. Earliest Mar 30 (2010), latest Apr 28 (1992).
Sap days by month
Dec11%Jan6%Feb10%Mar37%Apr35%May2%

35 seasons of sap weather

Joliette seasons, 1991–2025

The best sap year at Joliette was 1999 with 43 freeze-thaw days; the leanest was 2015 with 9. 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 17 – Apr 21, 22 sap days2220242024: Mar 7 – Apr 9, 29 sap days2920232023: Mar 16 – Apr 10, 38 sap days3820222022: Mar 20 – Apr 23, 30 sap days3020212021: Mar 6 – Apr 4, 21 sap days2120202020: Mar 23 – Apr 26, 39 sap days3920192019: Mar 25 – Apr 17, 19 sap days1920182018: Mar 27 – Apr 23, 32 sap days3220172017: Mar 14 – Apr 14, 17 sap days1720162016: Mar 19 – Apr 16, 33 sap days3320152015: Mar 25 – Apr 16, 9 sap days920142014: Mar 31 – Apr 20, 22 sap days2220132013: Mar 20 – Apr 22, 32 sap days3220122012: Mar 8 – Apr 7, 26 sap days2620112011: Mar 22 – Apr 22, 22 sap days2220102010: Mar 2 – Mar 30, 24 sap days2420092009: Mar 17 – Apr 19, 29 sap days2920082008: Mar 20 – Apr 16, 20 sap days2020072007: Mar 19 – Apr 12, 27 sap days2720062006: Mar 11 – Apr 11, 25 sap days2520052005: Mar 16 – Apr 16, 28 sap days2820042004: Mar 20 – Apr 24, 29 sap days2920032003: Mar 24 – Apr 18, 19 sap days1920022002: Mar 14 – Apr 11, 29 sap days2920012001: Mar 23 – Apr 26, 29 sap days2920002000: Mar 15 – Apr 19, 31 sap days3119991999: Mar 17 – Apr 19, 43 sap days4319981998: Mar 12 – Apr 13, 20 sap days2019971997: Mar 26 – Apr 27, 24 sap days2419961996: Mar 20 – Apr 16, 26 sap days2619951995: Mar 18 – Apr 18, 32 sap days3219941994: Mar 23 – Apr 23, 28 sap days2819931993: Mar 22 – Apr 7, 22 sap days2219921992: Mar 26 – Apr 28, 25 sap days2519911991: Mar 17 – Apr 14, 30 sap days30
Each bar runs from the season's opening signal to its closing signal, estimated from daily Daymet temperatures at Joliette. Dashed lines mark the typical dates. The right column counts freeze-thaw sap days from December through May.

Maple production

Joliette 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 28 in Joliette, with 52,495 taps; in 2016, 32 farms and 53,162 taps. Among Quebec's 61 census divisions with a published tap count, Joliette ranks 58th, and 73rd of the 94 in this atlas.

Over the five years the farm count changed −12% and taps −1%. 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.

Joliette maple production, 2016 and 2021 (Statistics Canada, Census of Agriculture)
Census yearFarms reporting tapsTaps
20212852,495E
20163253,162
  • E Statistics Canada quality grade: use with caution.

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 Lanaudière 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
23
under the joint marketing plan
Taps
102,178
as printed
Annual production
484,324 lb
estimate, pounds of syrup
Value
$1.6 million
Canadian dollars

Taps by forest ownership

Private forest 67%Public forest 33%

  • Figures in millions are rounded to a tenth, as PPAQ printed them.
  • Annual production is PPAQ's estimate (Groupe AGÉCO's yield estimate applied to the taps), not a measured harvest. Lanaudière sheet (PDF, French)

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 Joliette, the division's most populous municipality in the 2021 Census; the cell sits at 52 m (171 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 : Lanaudière · 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

Joliette sugaring questions

When should I tap maple trees in Joliette, Quebec?
In a typical year the sap starts running around March 12 near Joliette and the season winds down around April 16. 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 2 and as late as Mar 31.
How much maple syrup does Joliette produce?
Statistics Canada doesn't publish syrup volume by census division. Its 2021 Census of Agriculture counted 28 farms reporting 52,495 maple taps in Joliette, number 58 of 61 Quebec divisions with a published count. Separately, the PPAQ's 2026 fact sheet for the Lanaudière region estimates annual production at 484,324 lb of syrup from 102,178 taps.
How many sap days does Joliette get in a season?
On average 26.6 freeze-thaw sap days from December through May at Joliette, of which about 11 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 1999 (43 sap days); the leanest was 2015 (9).
Where do these dates come from?
From 35 seasons of daily high and low temperatures at Joliette (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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