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West Virginia · county maple atlas

Maple sugaring in Grant County, West Virginia

Grant County had 19 maple operations and 5,658 taps in the 2022 Census, number 2 in West Virginia. Around Petersburg, sap usually runs from January 29 to March 8. Here's the long-run pattern, 36 seasons of sap weather, and the outlook this week.
Too early to tapAbout 115 days until the usual start.
Sap starts
Jan 29
typical year
Season ends
Mar 8
about 5 weeks
Sap days / season
58.9
1991–2026 average
Taps, 2022
5,658
#2 of 29 in WV

Sap-flow outlook at Petersburg right now

Full West Virginia forecast →

Forecast for Petersburg, WV

Updated Oct 6, 10:52 AM EDT

Off-season for now. Sap needs freezing nights, and none are in sight. Grant County's season usually opens around January 29, which is 115 days away.

No freeze-thaw days in the forecast

freeze thaw 32°F

  1. WedOct 7
    40° / 77°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  2. ThuOct 8
    51° / 77°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  3. FriOct 9
    45° / 73°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  4. SatOct 10
    44° / 74°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  5. SunOct 11
    48° / 68°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  6. MonOct 12
    53° / 73°
    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 Petersburg

Freeze-thaw weather at Petersburg peaks in the weeks of Dec 1 to Mar 16, which hold about 89% of a season's sap days. December is the busiest month.
Typical season: Jan 29 – Mar 80246Week of Dec 1: 3.2 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 8: 3.8 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 15: 3.4 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: 2.9 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 12: 3.1 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 19: 2.5 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 26: 3.5 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 2: 4.0 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 9: 3.6 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 16: 3.6 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 23: 3.2 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 2: 3.6 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 9: 3.5 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 16: 2.6 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 23: 2.4 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: 0.4 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 27: 0.1 sap days on averageWeek of May 4: 0.0 sap days on averageWeek of May 11: 0.1 sap days on averageWeek of May 18: 0.0 sap days on averageWeek of May 25: 0.0 sap days on averageDecJanFebMarAprMaytaps in ~Jan 29
Average number of freeze-thaw sap days in each week of the season at Petersburg, 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 22; the middle half of seasons fell between Jan 15 and Jan 30. Earliest Jan 2 (2006), latest Feb 11 (2003).
Closing signal
Median Feb 25; middle half between Feb 17 and Mar 5. Earliest Jan 29 (2002), latest Mar 16 (2003).
Sap days by month
Dec25%Jan22%Feb25%Mar22%Apr6%May0%

36 seasons of sap weather

Grant County seasons, 1991–2026

The best sap year at Petersburg was 2002 with 73 freeze-thaw days; the leanest was 2010 with 39. 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 24 – Feb 28, 58 sap days5820252025: Jan 29 – Mar 4, 52 sap days5220242024: Jan 12 – Feb 16, 61 sap days6120232023: Jan 9 – Jan 29, 59 sap days5920222022: Jan 25 – Mar 1, 59 sap days5920212021: Jan 25 – Feb 25, 63 sap days6320202020: Jan 2 – Feb 2, 56 sap days5620192019: Jan 22 – Feb 26, 57 sap days5720182018: Jan 16 – Feb 19, 64 sap days6420174420162016: Jan 31 – Mar 6, 53 sap days5320152015: Feb 10 – Mar 14, 58 sap days5820142014: Feb 5 – Mar 9, 61 sap days6120132013: Jan 7 – Feb 11, 62 sap days6220122012: Jan 5 – Feb 7, 61 sap days6120112011: Jan 23 – Feb 25, 50 sap days5020102010: Feb 3 – Mar 10, 39 sap days3920092009: Feb 1 – Mar 6, 59 sap days5920082008: Jan 21 – Feb 25, 67 sap days6720072007: Jan 18 – Feb 22, 62 sap days6220062006: Jan 2 – Jan 29, 65 sap days6520052005: Jan 25 – Feb 8, 56 sap days5620042004: Jan 29 – Mar 2, 60 sap days6020032003: Feb 11 – Mar 16, 55 sap days5520022002: Jan 4 – Jan 29, 73 sap days7320012001: Jan 25 – Mar 1, 62 sap days6220002000: Jan 20 – Feb 23, 64 sap days6419991999: Jan 7 – Feb 11, 68 sap days6819981998: Jan 14 – Feb 17, 56 sap days5619971997: Jan 17 – Feb 18, 59 sap days5919961996: Jan 31 – Mar 6, 47 sap days4719951995: Jan 31 – Mar 5, 62 sap days6219941994: Feb 7 – Mar 13, 55 sap days5519931993: Jan 18 – Feb 21, 63 sap days6319921992: Jan 19 – Feb 22, 71 sap days7119911991: Jan 15 – Feb 17, 60 sap days60
Each bar runs from the season's opening signal to its closing signal, estimated from daily temperatures at Petersburg. Dashed lines mark the typical dates. The right column counts freeze-thaw sap days from December through May.

Maple production

Grant County in the Census of Agriculture

USDA counts maple operations every five years. In Grant County the 2022 Census found 19 farms making syrup (+375% since 2017), with taps +110% and syrup output +398% over the same five years. That works out to about 0.18 gallons of syrup per tap in 2022 (0.08 in 2017). Among the 385 counties in this atlas, Grant County ranks 184 by taps.

Grant County maple production, 2017 and 2022 (USDA Census of Agriculture)
Census yearFarmsTapsGallons of syrupGal / tap
2022195,6581,0250.18
201742,7002060.08

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 Petersburg (1,014ft), 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

Grant County sugaring questions

When should I tap maple trees in Grant County, West Virginia?
In a typical year the sap starts running around January 29 near Petersburg and the season winds down around March 8. 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 11.
How much maple syrup does Grant County produce?
The 2022 Census of Agriculture counted 19 maple operations in Grant County with 5,658 taps producing 1,025 gallons of syrup, ranking 2 of 29 West Virginia's counties with published tap counts.
How many sap days does Grant County get in a season?
On average 58.9 freeze-thaw sap days from December through May at Petersburg, of which about 16.3 are textbook days with a night in the 20s and a day in the 40s. The best season since 1991 was 2002 (73 sap days); the leanest was 2010 (39).
Where do these dates come from?
From 36 seasons of daily high and low temperatures at Petersburg (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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