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West Virginia · county maple atlas

Maple sugaring in Berkeley County, West Virginia

Berkeley County had 5 maple operations and 210 taps in the 2022 Census. Around Martinsburg, sap usually runs from February 5 to March 14. Here's the long-run pattern, 36 seasons of sap weather, and the outlook this week.
Too early to tapAbout 122 days until the usual start.
Sap starts
Feb 5
typical year
Season ends
Mar 14
about 5 weeks
Sap days / season
51.7
1991–2026 average
Taps, 2022
210
#13 of 29 in WV

Sap-flow outlook at Martinsburg right now

Full West Virginia forecast →

Forecast for Martinsburg, WV

Updated Oct 6, 10:52 AM EDT

Off-season for now. Sap needs freezing nights, and none are in sight. Berkeley County's season usually opens around February 5, which is 122 days away.

No freeze-thaw days in the forecast

freeze thaw 32°F

  1. WedOct 7
    41° / 75°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  2. ThuOct 8
    52° / 78°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  3. FriOct 9
    49° / 73°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  4. SatOct 10
    48° / 73°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  5. SunOct 11
    51° / 69°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  6. MonOct 12
    56° / 72°
    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 Martinsburg

Freeze-thaw weather at Martinsburg peaks in the weeks of Dec 1 to Mar 9, which hold about 88% of a season's sap days. December is the busiest month.
Typical season: Feb 5 – Mar 140246Week of Dec 1: 2.7 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 8: 3.2 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 15: 3.0 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 22: 3.1 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 29: 2.9 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 5: 2.5 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 12: 2.7 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 19: 2.6 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 26: 2.9 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 2: 3.4 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 9: 3.4 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 16: 3.3 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 23: 3.3 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 2: 3.3 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 9: 3.2 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 16: 1.9 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 23: 2.2 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 30: 1.0 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 6: 0.9 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 13: 0.3 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 20: 0.1 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 27: 0.0 sap days on averageWeek of May 4: 0.0 sap days on averageWeek of May 11: 0.0 sap days on averageWeek of May 18: 0.0 sap days on averageWeek of May 25: 0.0 sap days on averageDecJanFebMarAprMaytaps in ~Feb 5
Average number of freeze-thaw sap days in each week of the season at Martinsburg, 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 Jan 29; the middle half of seasons fell between Jan 17 and Feb 3. Earliest Jan 2 (2006), latest Feb 19 (2015).
Closing signal
Median Mar 3; middle half between Feb 17 and Mar 9. Earliest Jan 27 (1998), latest Mar 25 (2015).
Sap days by month
Dec26%Jan23%Feb26%Mar22%Apr4%May0%

36 seasons of sap weather

Berkeley County seasons, 1991–2026

The best sap year at Martinsburg was 1991 with 66 freeze-thaw days; the leanest was 2003 with 36. 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: Jan 31 – Mar 3, 52 sap days5220252025: Feb 2 – Mar 9, 48 sap days4820242024: Jan 7 – Feb 9, 48 sap days4820232023: Jan 8 – Jan 29, 51 sap days5120222022: Jan 30 – Mar 5, 56 sap days5620212021: Feb 4 – Mar 9, 58 sap days5820202020: Jan 2 – Feb 1, 50 sap days5020192019: Feb 3 – Mar 9, 57 sap days5720182018: Jan 17 – Feb 19, 61 sap days6120172017: Jan 10 – Feb 6, 43 sap days4320162016: Feb 2 – Mar 9, 44 sap days4420152015: Feb 19 – Mar 25, 50 sap days5020142014: Feb 15 – Mar 19, 54 sap days5420132013: Jan 25 – Feb 27, 59 sap days5920122012: Jan 17 – Feb 21, 62 sap days6220112011: Feb 4 – Mar 9, 52 sap days5220102010: Feb 6 – Mar 10, 40 sap days4020092009: Feb 4 – Mar 6, 60 sap days6020082008: Jan 28 – Mar 4, 64 sap days6420072007: Jan 26 – Mar 2, 57 sap days5720062006: Jan 2 – Feb 2, 53 sap days5320052005: Jan 26 – Feb 13, 46 sap days4620042004: Feb 3 – Mar 1, 50 sap days5020032003: Feb 15 – Mar 15, 36 sap days3620022002: Jan 3 – Feb 7, 60 sap days6020012001: Feb 3 – Mar 10, 61 sap days6120002000: Jan 19 – Feb 23, 40 sap days4019991999: Jan 12 – Feb 11, 42 sap days4219981998: Jan 11 – Jan 27, 41 sap days4119971997: Jan 16 – Feb 18, 57 sap days5719961996: Jan 31 – Mar 6, 42 sap days4219951995: Jan 30 – Mar 4, 47 sap days4719941994: Feb 15 – Mar 18, 45 sap days4519931993: Feb 10 – Mar 16, 45 sap days4519921992: Jan 21 – Feb 23, 63 sap days6319911991: Jan 21 – Feb 25, 66 sap days66
Each bar runs from the season's opening signal to its closing signal, estimated from daily temperatures at Martinsburg. Dashed lines mark the typical dates. The right column counts freeze-thaw sap days from December through May.

Maple production

Berkeley County in the Census of Agriculture

USDA counts maple operations every five years. In Berkeley County the 2022 Census found 5 farms making syrup (+400% since 2017). That works out to about 0.08 gallons of syrup per tap in 2022. Among the 385 counties in this atlas, Berkeley County ranks 342 by taps.

Berkeley County maple production, 2017 and 2022 (USDA Census of Agriculture)
Census yearFarmsTapsGallons of syrupGal / tap
20225210170.08
20171withheldwithheld—

“Withheld” means USDA suppressed the figure to avoid disclosing data for individual operations; the farm count is still published.

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 Martinsburg (456ft), 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 West Virginia's USDA record (3 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 — West Virginia, 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

Berkeley County sugaring questions

When should I tap maple trees in Berkeley County, West Virginia?
In a typical year the sap starts running around February 5 near Martinsburg and the season winds down around March 14. 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 Jan 2 and as late as Feb 19.
How much maple syrup does Berkeley County produce?
The 2022 Census of Agriculture counted 5 maple operations in Berkeley County with 210 taps producing 17 gallons of syrup, ranking 13 of 29 West Virginia's counties with published tap counts.
How many sap days does Berkeley County get in a season?
On average 51.7 freeze-thaw sap days from December through May at Martinsburg, of which about 18.6 are textbook days with a night in the 20s and a day in the 40s. The best season since 1991 was 1991 (66 sap days); the leanest was 2003 (36).
Where do these dates come from?
From 36 seasons of daily high and low temperatures at Martinsburg (PRISM 4-km grid), scored with the same freeze-thaw rule as our live forecast, then calibrated against USDA's reported season dates for West Virginia. 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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