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Vermont · county maple atlas

Maple sugaring in Orange County, Vermont

Orange County had 123 maple operations and 440,188 taps in the 2022 Census. Around Chelsea, sap usually runs from March 6 to April 15. Here's the long-run pattern, 36 seasons of sap weather, and the outlook this week.
Too early to tapAbout 151 days until the usual start.
Sap starts
Mar 6
typical year
Season ends
Apr 15
about 6 weeks
Sap days / season
40.8
1991–2026 average
Taps, 2022
440,188
#7 of 12 in VT

Sap-flow outlook at Chelsea right now

Full Vermont forecast →

Forecast for Chelsea, VT

Updated Oct 6, 2:25 AM EDT

1 sap day in the next 6

freeze thaw 32°F

  1. WedOct 7
    30° / 62°

    4h below · 18h above

    Sap likely
  2. ThuOct 8
    44° / 64°

    0h below · 24h above

    Run tapering
  3. FriOct 9
    40° / 55°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  4. SatOct 10
    39° / 56°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  5. SunOct 11
    39° / 64°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  6. MonOct 12
    48° / 65°
    No refreeze forecast

Data: National Weather Service. Verdicts use freeze-thaw thresholds from maple field research; your woods may run a little differently.

When the sap runs

The sugaring calendar at Chelsea

Freeze-thaw weather at Chelsea peaks in the weeks of Mar 9 to Apr 20, which hold about 53% of a season's sap days. April is the busiest month.
Typical season: Mar 6 – Apr 150246Week of Dec 1: 1.4 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 8: 1.3 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 15: 1.2 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 22: 1.1 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 29: 1.0 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 5: 0.6 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 12: 0.6 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 19: 0.8 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 26: 0.6 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 2: 0.8 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 9: 0.9 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 16: 1.7 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 23: 1.5 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 2: 1.8 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 9: 2.6 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 16: 2.4 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 23: 3.6 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 30: 3.8 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 6: 3.7 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 13: 3.4 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 20: 2.3 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 27: 1.6 sap days on averageWeek of May 4: 0.9 sap days on averageWeek of May 11: 0.7 sap days on averageWeek of May 18: 0.3 sap days on averageWeek of May 25: 0.1 sap days on averageDecJanFebMarAprMaytaps in ~Mar 6
Average number of freeze-thaw sap days in each week of the season at Chelsea, 1991–2026. A sap day is an overnight low under 30.2 °F followed by an afternoon high over 37.4 °F. The shaded band is the typical season.

Year-to-year spread

Opening signal
Median Mar 17; the middle half of seasons fell between Mar 12 and Mar 24. Earliest Feb 18 (2012), latest Mar 28 (1992).
Closing signal
Median Apr 18; middle half between Apr 14 and Apr 23. Earliest Mar 13 (2012), latest May 1 (1992).
Sap days by month
Dec14%Jan7%Feb12%Mar29%Apr32%May5%

36 seasons of sap weather

Orange County seasons, 1991–2026

The best sap year at Chelsea was 1999 with 66 freeze-thaw days; the leanest was 2015 with 24. 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 days20262026: Mar 11 – Apr 12, 28 sap days2820252025: Mar 16 – Apr 18, 27 sap days2720242024: Mar 12 – Apr 9, 42 sap days4220232023: Mar 13 – Apr 10, 45 sap days4520222022: Mar 10 – Apr 11, 45 sap days4520212021: Mar 6 – Apr 5, 27 sap days2720202020: Mar 24 – Apr 25, 53 sap days5320192019: Mar 20 – Apr 18, 35 sap days3520182018: Mar 28 – Apr 24, 42 sap days4220172017: Mar 13 – Apr 16, 33 sap days3320162016: Mar 15 – Apr 18, 53 sap days5320152015: Mar 28 – Apr 25, 24 sap days2420142014: Mar 25 – Apr 25, 37 sap days3720132013: Mar 24 – Apr 26, 41 sap days4120122012: Feb 18 – Mar 13, 51 sap days5120112011: Mar 24 – Apr 23, 30 sap days3020102010: Mar 1 – Mar 29, 37 sap days3720092009: Mar 18 – Apr 20, 40 sap days4020082008: Mar 19 – Apr 18, 39 sap days3920072007: Mar 21 – Apr 16, 44 sap days4420062006: Mar 10 – Apr 12, 38 sap days3820052005: Mar 16 – Apr 17, 38 sap days3820042004: Mar 19 – Apr 22, 41 sap days4120032003: Mar 19 – Apr 19, 30 sap days3020022002: Mar 12 – Apr 12, 50 sap days5020012001: Mar 27 – Apr 30, 36 sap days3620002000: Mar 12 – Apr 16, 44 sap days4419991999: Mar 18 – Apr 19, 66 sap days6619981998: Mar 10 – Apr 14, 45 sap days4519971997: Mar 26 – Apr 27, 44 sap days4419961996: Mar 21 – Apr 17, 41 sap days4119951995: Mar 16 – Apr 18, 51 sap days5119941994: Mar 24 – Apr 23, 44 sap days4419931993: Mar 16 – Apr 20, 36 sap days3619921992: Mar 28 – May 1, 39 sap days3919911991: Mar 13 – Apr 14, 53 sap days53
Each bar runs from the season's opening signal to its closing signal, estimated from daily temperatures at Chelsea. Dashed lines mark the typical dates. The right column counts freeze-thaw sap days from December through May.

Maple production

Orange County in the Census of Agriculture

USDA counts maple operations every five years. In Orange County the 2022 Census found 123 farms making syrup (+18% since 2017), with taps +96% and syrup output +123% over the same five years. That works out to about 0.37 gallons of syrup per tap in 2022 (0.32 in 2017). Among the 385 counties in this atlas, Orange County ranks 8 by taps.

Orange County maple production, 2017 and 2022 (USDA Census of Agriculture)
Census yearFarmsTapsGallons of syrupGal / tap
2022123440,188161,1280.37
2017104224,27072,1910.32

Nearby

Neighboring maple counties

Distances are between reference towns; typical dates are each county's own estimate.

About these numbers

The season dates are estimated from 36 seasons of daily high and low temperatures for the PRISM 4-km grid cell at Chelsea (1,201ft), scored with the same freeze-thaw rule as our live forecast: a sap day is an overnight low under 30.2 °F followed by an afternoon high over 37.4 °F. Each season's closing signal is the last sap day before accumulated warmth reaches a threshold, and the opening signal sits five weeks before that, never earlier than the first real freeze-thaw week. Tested against 117 state-seasons of USDA-reported dates, the rule lands within 5.5 days of the reported close and 6.6 days of the reported opening on average, and the typical dates shown here are scaled to Vermont's USDA record (12 years). Production figures are copied from the Census as published. Full method, calibration tables and the downloadable dataset →

Sources · 6

  1. 1.2022 Census of Agriculture, County Level Data — Vermont, Table 37: Maple Syrup, 2022 and 2017 · USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service
  2. 2.PRISM daily temperature grids (AN81d, 4 km), accessed 2026-10-05 · PRISM Group, Oregon State University, https://prism.oregonstate.edu
  3. 3.Applied Climate Information System (ACIS) web services · NOAA Regional Climate Centers
  4. 4.USDA NASS maple syrup reports — approximate average season opened and closed dates, 2011–2022 · USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service (mirrored by the University of Vermont)
  5. 5.Sap flow in sugar maple: timing and weather drivers (Frontiers in Agronomy, 2025) · de Lima Santos et al.
  6. 6.GeoNames gazetteer (cities500), CC BY 4.0 · GeoNames

FAQ

Orange County sugaring questions

When should I tap maple trees in Orange County, Vermont?
In a typical year the sap starts running around March 6 near Chelsea and the season winds down around April 15. Have your taps in a day or two before the first forecast string of freezing nights and 40 °F days. In the past 36 seasons the weather signal came as early as Feb 18 and as late as Mar 28.
How much maple syrup does Orange County produce?
The 2022 Census of Agriculture counted 123 maple operations in Orange County with 440,188 taps producing 161,128 gallons of syrup, ranking 7 of 12 Vermont's counties with published tap counts.
How many sap days does Orange County get in a season?
On average 40.8 freeze-thaw sap days from December through May at Chelsea, of which about 11.7 are textbook days with a night in the 20s and a day in the 40s. The best season since 1991 was 1999 (66 sap days); the leanest was 2015 (24).
Where do these dates come from?
From 36 seasons of daily high and low temperatures at Chelsea (PRISM 4-km grid), scored with the same freeze-thaw rule as our live forecast, then calibrated against USDA's reported season dates for Vermont. They describe a typical year at one point in the county; your sugarbush, slope and elevation can shift them by days.

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