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Quebec · maple atlas

Maple sugaring in Sherbrooke, Quebec

Sherbrooke is an equivalent territory in Quebec: a city or urban agglomeration outside any MRC that counts as its own census division. Statistics Canada's 2021 Census of Agriculture counted 35 farms reporting maple taps here (taps withheld by Statistics Canada). Around Sherbrooke, sap usually runs from March 9 to April 17. Here's the long-run pattern, 35 seasons of sap weather, and the outlook this week.
Too early to tapAbout 153 days until the usual start.
Sap starts
Mar 9
producers' record
Season ends
Apr 17
about 6 weeks
Sap days / season
34.1
1991–2025 average
Taps, 2021
withheld
by Statistics Canada

Sap-flow outlook at Sherbrooke right now

Full Quebec forecast →

Forecast for Sherbrooke, QC

Updated Oct 7, 11:30 AM EDT

Off-season for now. Sap needs freezing nights, and none are in sight. Sherbrooke's season usually opens around March 9, which is 153 days away.

No freeze-thaw days in the forecast

freeze thaw 0 °C

  1. ThuOct 8
    9° / 13°
    No refreeze forecast
  2. FriOct 9
    7° / 12°
    No refreeze forecast
  3. SatOct 10
    0° / 11°
    No refreeze forecast
  4. SunOct 11
    3° / 21°
    No refreeze forecast
  5. MonOct 12
    10° / 17°
    No refreeze forecast
  6. TueOct 13
    8° / 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 Sherbrooke

Freeze-thaw weather at Sherbrooke peaks in the weeks of Mar 9 to Apr 20, which hold about 54% 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 9 – Apr 170246Week of Dec 1: 1.0 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 8: 1.2 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 15: 0.9 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 22: 0.8 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 29: 0.7 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 5: 0.6 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 12: 0.7 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 19: 0.6 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 26: 0.5 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 2: 0.8 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 9: 0.8 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 16: 1.3 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 23: 1.2 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 2: 1.6 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 9: 2.1 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 16: 2.1 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 23: 3.1 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 30: 3.1 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 6: 3.0 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 13: 2.9 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 20: 2.1 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 27: 1.5 sap days on averageWeek of May 4: 0.8 sap days on averageWeek of May 11: 0.4 sap days on averageWeek of May 18: 0.2 sap days on averageWeek of May 25: 0.1 sap days on averageDecJanFebMarAprMaytaps in ~Mar 9
Average number of freeze-thaw sap days in each week of the season at Sherbrooke, 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 16; the middle half of seasons fell between Mar 11 and Mar 21. Earliest Feb 19 (2012), latest Apr 2 (2015).
Closing signal
Median Apr 18; middle half between Apr 11 and Apr 22. Earliest Mar 25 (2012), latest Apr 29 (2001).
Sap days by month
Dec12%Jan8%Feb12%Mar30%Apr32%May5%

35 seasons of sap weather

Sherbrooke seasons, 1991–2025

The best sap year at Sherbrooke was 2020 with 48 freeze-thaw days; the leanest was 2015 with 20. 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 15 – Apr 18, 34 sap days3420242024: Mar 7 – Apr 10, 39 sap days3920232023: Mar 12 – Apr 10, 42 sap days4220222022: Mar 11 – Apr 11, 32 sap days3220212021: Mar 5 – Apr 4, 25 sap days2520202020: Mar 16 – Apr 20, 48 sap days4820192019: Mar 21 – Apr 18, 34 sap days3420182018: Mar 24 – Apr 23, 37 sap days3720172017: Mar 12 – Apr 15, 30 sap days3020162016: Mar 15 – Apr 18, 46 sap days4620152015: Apr 2 – Apr 25, 20 sap days2020142014: Mar 22 – Apr 25, 29 sap days2920132013: Mar 18 – Apr 22, 40 sap days4020122012: Feb 19 – Mar 25, 38 sap days3820112011: Mar 22 – Apr 22, 26 sap days2620102010: Feb 28 – Mar 28, 26 sap days2620092009: Mar 16 – Apr 20, 39 sap days3920082008: Mar 17 – Apr 17, 32 sap days3220072007: Mar 20 – Apr 21, 39 sap days3920062006: Mar 8 – Apr 11, 34 sap days3420052005: Mar 16 – Apr 17, 36 sap days3620042004: Mar 18 – Apr 22, 25 sap days2520032003: Mar 18 – Apr 18, 30 sap days3020022002: Mar 12 – Apr 11, 34 sap days3420012001: Mar 27 – Apr 29, 33 sap days3320002000: Mar 1 – Mar 28, 35 sap days3519991999: Mar 15 – Apr 19, 45 sap days4519981998: Mar 8 – Apr 12, 30 sap days3019971997: Mar 26 – Apr 27, 36 sap days3619961996: Mar 19 – Apr 20, 28 sap days2819951995: Mar 10 – Apr 11, 35 sap days3519941994: Mar 22 – Apr 23, 29 sap days2919931993: Mar 16 – Apr 19, 30 sap days3019921992: Mar 23 – Apr 27, 38 sap days3819911991: Mar 9 – Apr 13, 40 sap days40
Each bar runs from the season's opening signal to its closing signal, estimated from daily Daymet temperatures at Sherbrooke. Dashed lines mark the typical dates. The right column counts freeze-thaw sap days from December through May.

Maple production

Sherbrooke 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 35 in Sherbrooke; in 2016, 18 farms and 24,470 taps.

Over the five years the farm count changed +94%. 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.

Sherbrooke maple production, 2016 and 2021 (Statistics Canada, Census of Agriculture)
Census yearFarms reporting tapsTaps
202135Ewithheld by Statistics Canada
20161824,470
  • E Statistics Canada quality grade: use with caution.
  • "Withheld by Statistics Canada": Statistics Canada suppressed the value as too unreliable to publish (F). 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 Estrie 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
4
under the joint marketing plan
Taps
9,397
as printed
Annual production
38,810 lb
estimate, pounds of syrup
Value
$130,012
Canadian dollars

Taps by forest ownership

Private forest 100%Public forest 0%

  • PPAQ prints this block as “Hors MRC Sherbrooke”.
  • Annual production is PPAQ's estimate (Groupe AGÉCO's yield estimate applied to the taps), not a measured harvest. Estrie 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 Sherbrooke, the division's most populous municipality in the 2021 Census; the cell sits at 171 m (561 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 : Estrie · 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

Sherbrooke sugaring questions

When should I tap maple trees in Sherbrooke, Quebec?
In a typical year the sap starts running around March 9 near Sherbrooke and the season winds down around April 17. 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 Feb 19 and as late as Apr 2.
How much maple syrup does Sherbrooke produce?
Statistics Canada doesn't publish syrup volume by census division. Its 2021 Census of Agriculture counted 35 farms reporting maple taps in Sherbrooke; the tap count was withheld by Statistics Canada. Separately, the PPAQ's 2026 fact sheet for the Estrie region estimates annual production at 38,810 lb of syrup from 9,397 taps.
How many sap days does Sherbrooke get in a season?
On average 34.1 freeze-thaw sap days from December through May at Sherbrooke, of which about 10.5 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 (48 sap days); the leanest was 2015 (20).
Where do these dates come from?
From 35 seasons of daily high and low temperatures at Sherbrooke (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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