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Quebec · maple atlas

Maple sugaring in Les Basques, Quebec

Les Basques is a regional county municipality (MRC) in Quebec. Statistics Canada's 2021 Census of Agriculture counted 71 farms reporting maple taps and 797,644 taps here. Around Trois-Pistoles, sap usually runs from March 26 to April 25. Here's the long-run pattern, 35 seasons of sap weather, and the outlook this week.
Too early to tapAbout 170 days until the usual start.
Sap starts
Mar 26
producers' record
Season ends
Apr 25
about 4 weeks
Sap days / season
19.7
1991–2025 average
Taps, 2021
797,644
#19 of 61 in QC

Sap-flow outlook at Trois-Pistoles right now

Full Quebec forecast →

Forecast for Trois-Pistoles, QC

Updated Oct 7, 11:30 AM EDT

Off-season for now. Sap needs freezing nights, and none are in sight. Les Basques's season usually opens around March 26, which is 170 days away.

No freeze-thaw days in the forecast

freeze thaw 0 °C

  1. ThuOct 8
    8° / 13°
    No refreeze forecast
  2. FriOct 9
    6° / 9°
    No refreeze forecast
  3. SatOct 10
    4° / 8°
    No refreeze forecast
  4. SunOct 11
    4° / 13°
    No refreeze forecast
  5. MonOct 12
    9° / 12°
    No refreeze forecast
  6. TueOct 13
    5° / 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 Trois-Pistoles

Freeze-thaw weather at Trois-Pistoles peaks in the weeks of Mar 16 to Apr 20, 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 26 – Apr 250246Week of Dec 1: 0.7 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 8: 0.6 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 15: 0.5 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 22: 0.4 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 29: 0.1 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 5: 0.2 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 12: 0.4 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 19: 0.2 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: 0.2 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 16: 0.4 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 23: 0.6 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 2: 0.6 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 9: 1.1 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 16: 1.5 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 23: 2.1 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 30: 2.3 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 6: 2.4 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 13: 2.1 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 20: 1.5 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 27: 0.9 sap days on averageWeek of May 4: 0.3 sap days on averageWeek of May 11: 0.3 sap days on averageWeek of May 18: 0.0 sap days on averageWeek of May 25: 0.0 sap days on averageDecJanFebMarAprMaytaps in ~Mar 26
Average number of freeze-thaw sap days in each week of the season at Trois-Pistoles, 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 2; the middle half of seasons fell between Mar 30 and Apr 5. Earliest Mar 20 (2021), latest Apr 20 (2002).
Closing signal
Median Apr 26; middle half between Apr 20 and May 1. Earliest Apr 9 (2023), latest May 14 (2020).
Sap days by month
Dec12%Jan5%Feb7%Mar31%Apr43%May3%

35 seasons of sap weather

Les Basques seasons, 1991–2025

The best sap year at Trois-Pistoles was 1991 with 28 freeze-thaw days; the leanest was 2015 with 10. 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 30 – Apr 18, 17 sap days1720242024: Mar 27 – Apr 28, 28 sap days2820232023: Mar 28 – Apr 9, 20 sap days2020222022: Apr 3 – May 8, 17 sap days1720212021: Mar 20 – Apr 21, 14 sap days1420202020: Apr 12 – May 14, 26 sap days2620192019: Apr 3 – May 1, 19 sap days1920182018: Apr 5 – Apr 12, 18 sap days1820172017: Apr 4 – Apr 25, 18 sap days1820162016: Apr 6 – May 1, 25 sap days2520152015: Mar 30 – Apr 20, 10 sap days1020142014: Apr 5 – Apr 20, 13 sap days1320132013: Mar 30 – Apr 27, 23 sap days2320122012: Mar 24 – Apr 14, 21 sap days2120112011: Apr 4 – Apr 22, 21 sap days2120102010: Mar 21 – Apr 16, 23 sap days2320092009: Mar 29 – Apr 20, 24 sap days2420082008: Apr 1 – May 2, 15 sap days1520072007: Apr 2 – Apr 25, 21 sap days2120062006: Mar 22 – Apr 22, 14 sap days1420052005: Apr 1 – Apr 22, 21 sap days2120042004: Apr 5 – May 9, 27 sap days2720032003: Apr 4 – Apr 18, 11 sap days1120022002: Apr 20 – Apr 30, 23 sap days2320012001: Mar 31 – Apr 29, 19 sap days1920002000: Apr 1 – Apr 27, 18 sap days1819991999: Mar 26 – Apr 12, 24 sap days2419981998: Apr 5 – Apr 26, 16 sap days1619971997: Apr 11 – Apr 27, 16 sap days1619961996: Apr 2 – Apr 26, 19 sap days1919951995: Apr 7 – May 7, 22 sap days2219941994: Apr 2 – Apr 29, 22 sap days2219931993: Mar 28 – Apr 28, 17 sap days1719921992: Apr 7 – May 12, 20 sap days2019911991: Apr 3 – May 6, 28 sap days28
Each bar runs from the season's opening signal to its closing signal, estimated from daily Daymet temperatures at Trois-Pistoles. Dashed lines mark the typical dates. The right column counts freeze-thaw sap days from December through May.

Maple production

Les Basques 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 71 in Les Basques, with 797,644 taps; in 2016, 74 farms and 786,350 taps. Among Quebec's 61 census divisions with a published tap count, Les Basques ranks 19th, and 20th of the 94 in this atlas.

Over the five years the farm count changed −4% 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.

Les Basques maple production, 2016 and 2021 (Statistics Canada, Census of Agriculture)
Census yearFarms reporting tapsTaps
202171797,644
201674786,350

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
97
under the joint marketing plan
Taps
1.0 million
rounded, as printed
Annual production
3.5 million lb
estimate, pounds of syrup
Value
$11.8 million
Canadian dollars

Taps by forest ownership

Private forest 75%Public forest 25%

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 Trois-Pistoles, the division's most populous municipality in the 2021 Census; the cell sits at 56 m (184 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

Les Basques sugaring questions

When should I tap maple trees in Les Basques, Quebec?
In a typical year the sap starts running around March 26 near Trois-Pistoles and the season winds down around April 25. 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 20 and as late as Apr 20.
How much maple syrup does Les Basques produce?
Statistics Canada doesn't publish syrup volume by census division. Its 2021 Census of Agriculture counted 71 farms reporting 797,644 maple taps in Les Basques, number 19 of 61 Quebec divisions with a published count. Separately, the PPAQ's 2026 fact sheet for the Bas-Saint-Laurent – Gaspésie region estimates annual production at 3.5 million lb of syrup from 1.0 million taps.
How many sap days does Les Basques get in a season?
On average 19.7 freeze-thaw sap days from December through May at Trois-Pistoles, of which about 9.3 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 1991 (28 sap days); the leanest was 2015 (10).
Where do these dates come from?
From 35 seasons of daily high and low temperatures at Trois-Pistoles (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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