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West Virginia · county maple atlas

Maple sugaring in Fayette County, West Virginia

Fayette County had 6 maple operations and 300 taps in the 2022 Census. Around Fayetteville, sap usually runs from January 30 to March 5. Here's the long-run pattern, 36 seasons of sap weather, and the outlook this week.
Too early to tapAbout 116 days until the usual start.
Sap starts
Jan 30
typical year
Season ends
Mar 5
about 5 weeks
Sap days / season
49.1
1991–2026 average
Taps, 2022
300
#11 of 29 in WV

Sap-flow outlook at Fayetteville right now

Full West Virginia forecast →

Forecast for Fayetteville, WV

Updated Oct 6, 9:50 AM EDT

Off-season for now. Sap needs freezing nights, and none are in sight. Fayette County's season usually opens around January 30, which is 116 days away.

No freeze-thaw days in the forecast

freeze thaw 32°F

  1. WedOct 7
    47° / 72°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  2. ThuOct 8
    52° / 72°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  3. FriOct 9
    47° / 69°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  4. SatOct 10
    48° / 70°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  5. SunOct 11
    54° / 65°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  6. MonOct 12
    56° / 68°
    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 Fayetteville

Freeze-thaw weather at Fayetteville peaks in the weeks of Jan 5 to Mar 23, which hold about 66% of a season's sap days. February is the busiest month.
Typical season: Jan 30 – Mar 50246Week of Dec 1: 2.5 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 8: 3.1 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 15: 2.6 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 22: 2.4 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 29: 1.9 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 5: 2.3 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 12: 2.4 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 19: 2.0 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 26: 3.0 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 2: 3.2 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 9: 3.3 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 16: 2.6 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 23: 2.8 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 2: 3.2 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 9: 2.9 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 16: 2.5 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 23: 2.3 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 30: 1.4 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 6: 1.4 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 13: 0.6 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 20: 0.3 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 27: 0.1 sap days on averageWeek of May 4: 0.1 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 ~Jan 30
Average number of freeze-thaw sap days in each week of the season at Fayetteville, 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 23; the middle half of seasons fell between Jan 15 and Jan 30. Earliest Jan 1 (2006), latest Feb 19 (2003).
Closing signal
Median Feb 22; middle half between Feb 15 and Mar 6. Earliest Jan 31 (2017), latest Mar 19 (2014).
Sap days by month
Dec24%Jan21%Feb25%Mar24%Apr7%May0%

36 seasons of sap weather

Fayette County seasons, 1991–2026

The best sap year at Fayetteville was 2014 with 61 freeze-thaw days; the leanest was 2003 with 31. 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 27 – Feb 28, 49 sap days4920252025: Feb 2 – Mar 9, 50 sap days5020242024: Jan 11 – Feb 15, 54 sap days5420232023: Jan 7 – Feb 8, 56 sap days5620222022: Jan 30 – Mar 5, 60 sap days6020212021: Feb 8 – Mar 15, 59 sap days5920202020: Jan 2 – Jan 31, 56 sap days5620192019: Jan 18 – Feb 20, 45 sap days4520182018: Jan 19 – Feb 13, 53 sap days5320172017: Jan 28 – Jan 31, 44 sap days4420162016: Feb 2 – Mar 8, 45 sap days4520152015: Feb 13 – Mar 19, 36 sap days3620142014: Feb 12 – Mar 19, 61 sap days6120132013: Feb 3 – Mar 10, 57 sap days5720122012: Jan 13 – Feb 14, 55 sap days5520112011: Jan 23 – Feb 21, 38 sap days3820102010: Feb 11 – Mar 9, 34 sap days3420092009: Jan 31 – Mar 6, 44 sap days4420082008: Jan 14 – Feb 16, 53 sap days5320072007: Jan 26 – Mar 1, 47 sap days4720062006: Jan 1 – Feb 2, 51 sap days5120052005: Jan 25 – Feb 1, 41 sap days4120042004: Jan 29 – Mar 2, 58 sap days5820032003: Feb 19 – Mar 12, 31 sap days3120022002: Jan 8 – Feb 12, 53 sap days5320012001: Jan 23 – Feb 27, 53 sap days5320002000: Jan 19 – Feb 22, 45 sap days4519991999: Jan 8 – Feb 1, 48 sap days4819981998: Jan 14 – Feb 16, 44 sap days4419971997: Jan 15 – Feb 18, 50 sap days5019961996: Jan 23 – Feb 19, 44 sap days4419951995: Jan 23 – Feb 26, 41 sap days4119941994: Jan 30 – Mar 6, 46 sap days4619931993: Jan 26 – Mar 2, 47 sap days4719921992: Jan 18 – Feb 21, 59 sap days5919911991: Jan 18 – Feb 18, 59 sap days59
Each bar runs from the season's opening signal to its closing signal, estimated from daily temperatures at Fayetteville. Dashed lines mark the typical dates. The right column counts freeze-thaw sap days from December through May.

Maple production

Fayette County in the Census of Agriculture

USDA counts maple operations every five years. In Fayette County the 2022 Census found 6 farms making syrup, with taps null and syrup output null over the same five years. That works out to about 0.08 gallons of syrup per tap in 2022. Among the 385 counties in this atlas, Fayette County ranks 331 by taps.

Fayette County maple production, 2017 and 2022 (USDA Census of Agriculture)
Census yearFarmsTapsGallons of syrupGal / tap
20226300240.08
2017000—

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 Fayetteville (1,841ft), 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

Fayette County sugaring questions

When should I tap maple trees in Fayette County, West Virginia?
In a typical year the sap starts running around January 30 near Fayetteville and the season winds down around March 5. 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 1 and as late as Feb 19.
How much maple syrup does Fayette County produce?
The 2022 Census of Agriculture counted 6 maple operations in Fayette County with 300 taps producing 24 gallons of syrup, ranking 11 of 29 West Virginia's counties with published tap counts.
How many sap days does Fayette County get in a season?
On average 49.1 freeze-thaw sap days from December through May at Fayetteville, of which about 14.3 are textbook days with a night in the 20s and a day in the 40s. The best season since 1991 was 2014 (61 sap days); the leanest was 2003 (31).
Where do these dates come from?
From 36 seasons of daily high and low temperatures at Fayetteville (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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