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Quebec · maple atlas

Maple sugaring in Les Laurentides, Quebec

Les Laurentides is a regional county municipality (MRC) in Quebec. Statistics Canada's 2021 Census of Agriculture counted 31 farms reporting maple taps and 184,798 taps here. Around Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts, sap usually runs from March 21 to April 28. Here's the long-run pattern, 35 seasons of sap weather, and the outlook this week.
Too early to tapAbout 165 days until the usual start.
Sap starts
Mar 21
producers' record
Season ends
Apr 28
about 5 weeks
Sap days / season
34.1
1991–2025 average
Taps, 2021
184,798
#41 of 61 in QC

Sap-flow outlook at Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts right now

Full Quebec forecast →

Forecast for Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts, QC

Updated Oct 7, 11:30 AM EDT

Only marginal days ahead

freeze thaw 0 °C

  1. ThuOct 8
    9° / 11°
    No refreeze forecast
  2. FriOct 9
    5° / 10°
    No refreeze forecast
  3. SatOct 10
    -1° / 10°
    Maybe a light run
  4. SunOct 11
    5° / 22°
    No refreeze forecast
  5. MonOct 12
    11° / 17°
    No refreeze forecast
  6. TueOct 13
    9° / 13°
    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 Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts

Freeze-thaw weather at Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts peaks in the weeks of Mar 23 to Apr 27, which hold about 58% 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 21 – Apr 280246Week of Dec 1: 0.8 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 8: 0.4 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 15: 0.4 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 22: 0.5 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 29: 0.3 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: 0.6 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 9: 0.4 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 16: 0.6 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 23: 1.0 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 2: 1.4 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 9: 2.0 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 16: 2.1 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 23: 2.9 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 30: 3.5 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 6: 3.6 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 13: 3.6 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 20: 3.4 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 27: 2.8 sap days on averageWeek of May 4: 1.3 sap days on averageWeek of May 11: 0.9 sap days on averageWeek of May 18: 0.3 sap days on averageWeek of May 25: 0.3 sap days on averageDecJanFebMarAprMaytaps in ~Mar 21
Average number of freeze-thaw sap days in each week of the season at Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts, 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 28; the middle half of seasons fell between Mar 24 and Apr 1. Earliest Mar 6 (2010), latest Apr 4 (1992).
Closing signal
Median Apr 29; middle half between Apr 24 and May 3. Earliest Apr 2 (2010), latest May 8 (1992).
Sap days by month
Dec7%Jan3%Feb7%Mar29%Apr44%May10%

35 seasons of sap weather

Les Laurentides seasons, 1991–2025

The best sap year at Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts was 2020 with 52 freeze-thaw days; the leanest was 2003 with 21. 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 25 – Apr 24, 32 sap days3220242024: Mar 13 – Apr 17, 41 sap days4120232023: Mar 24 – Apr 28, 42 sap days4220222022: Mar 28 – May 1, 40 sap days4020212021: Mar 8 – Apr 7, 32 sap days3220202020: Apr 3 – May 8, 52 sap days5220192019: Apr 2 – May 1, 30 sap days3020182018: Apr 3 – May 8, 32 sap days3220172017: Mar 21 – Apr 25, 34 sap days3420162016: Apr 2 – May 5, 38 sap days3820152015: Mar 29 – Apr 29, 23 sap days2320142014: Apr 3 – May 8, 26 sap days2620132013: Mar 28 – Apr 28, 37 sap days3720122012: Mar 12 – Apr 15, 28 sap days2820112011: Mar 29 – May 1, 25 sap days2520102010: Mar 6 – Apr 2, 40 sap days4020092009: Mar 23 – Apr 24, 42 sap days4220082008: Mar 31 – Apr 26, 22 sap days2220072007: Mar 25 – Apr 26, 32 sap days3220062006: Mar 18 – Apr 19, 32 sap days3220052005: Mar 24 – Apr 22, 36 sap days3620042004: Mar 28 – Apr 29, 34 sap days3420032003: Mar 30 – May 4, 21 sap days2120022002: Mar 28 – Apr 24, 29 sap days2920012001: Mar 28 – Apr 29, 36 sap days3620002000: Mar 25 – Apr 29, 44 sap days4419991999: Mar 28 – May 1, 46 sap days4619981998: Mar 17 – Apr 21, 30 sap days3019971997: Apr 3 – May 8, 28 sap days2819961996: Apr 3 – May 8, 37 sap days3719951995: Mar 27 – May 1, 38 sap days3819941994: Apr 2 – May 5, 39 sap days3919931993: Mar 25 – Apr 28, 25 sap days2519921992: Apr 4 – May 8, 34 sap days3419911991: Mar 22 – Apr 26, 35 sap days35
Each bar runs from the season's opening signal to its closing signal, estimated from daily Daymet temperatures at Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts. Dashed lines mark the typical dates. The right column counts freeze-thaw sap days from December through May.

Maple production

Les Laurentides 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 31 in Les Laurentides, with 184,798 taps; in 2016, 37 farms and 258,855 taps. Among Quebec's 61 census divisions with a published tap count, Les Laurentides ranks 41st, and 48th of the 94 in this atlas.

Over the five years the farm count changed −16% and taps −29%. 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 Laurentides maple production, 2016 and 2021 (Statistics Canada, Census of Agriculture)
Census yearFarms reporting tapsTaps
202131184,798
201637258,855

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 Ouest-du-Québec 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
41
under the joint marketing plan
Taps
405,933
as printed
Annual production
1.7 million lb
estimate, pounds of syrup
Value
$5.7 million
Canadian dollars

Taps by forest ownership

Private forest 29%Public forest 71%

  • 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. Ouest-du-Québec 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 Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts, the division's most populous municipality in the 2021 Census; the cell sits at 378 m (1,240 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 : Ouest-du-Québec · 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 Laurentides sugaring questions

When should I tap maple trees in Les Laurentides, Quebec?
In a typical year the sap starts running around March 21 near Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts and the season winds down around April 28. 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 6 and as late as Apr 4.
How much maple syrup does Les Laurentides produce?
Statistics Canada doesn't publish syrup volume by census division. Its 2021 Census of Agriculture counted 31 farms reporting 184,798 maple taps in Les Laurentides, number 41 of 61 Quebec divisions with a published count. Separately, the PPAQ's 2026 fact sheet for the Ouest-du-Québec region estimates annual production at 1.7 million lb of syrup from 405,933 taps.
How many sap days does Les Laurentides get in a season?
On average 34.1 freeze-thaw sap days from December through May at Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts, 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 2020 (52 sap days); the leanest was 2003 (21).
Where do these dates come from?
From 35 seasons of daily high and low temperatures at Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts (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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