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West Virginia · county maple atlas

Maple sugaring in Lincoln County, West Virginia

Lincoln County had 9 maple operations and 3,675 taps in the 2022 Census, number 3 in West Virginia. Around Hamlin, sap usually runs from January 27 to March 4. Here's the long-run pattern, 36 seasons of sap weather, and the outlook this week.
Too early to tapAbout 113 days until the usual start.
Sap starts
Jan 27
typical year
Season ends
Mar 4
about 5 weeks
Sap days / season
56.7
1991–2026 average
Taps, 2022
3,675
#3 of 29 in WV

Sap-flow outlook at Hamlin right now

Full West Virginia forecast →

Forecast for Hamlin, WV

Updated Oct 6, 9:50 AM EDT

Off-season for now. Sap needs freezing nights, and none are in sight. Lincoln County's season usually opens around January 27, which is 113 days away.

No freeze-thaw days in the forecast

freeze thaw 32°F

  1. WedOct 7
    47° / 77°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  2. ThuOct 8
    54° / 78°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  3. FriOct 9
    47° / 74°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  4. SatOct 10
    48° / 77°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  5. SunOct 11
    55° / 72°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  6. MonOct 12
    56° / 76°
    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 Hamlin

Freeze-thaw weather at Hamlin peaks in the weeks of Dec 1 to Mar 23, which hold about 94% of a season's sap days. December is the busiest month.
Typical season: Jan 27 – Mar 40246Week of Dec 1: 3.4 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: 2.9 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 29: 2.7 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 5: 2.8 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 12: 2.8 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 19: 2.7 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 26: 3.4 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 2: 3.5 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 9: 3.7 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 16: 3.3 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 23: 3.5 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 2: 3.4 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 9: 3.1 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 16: 2.5 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: 1.3 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 13: 0.5 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: 0.0 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 ~Jan 27
Average number of freeze-thaw sap days in each week of the season at Hamlin, 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 20; the middle half of seasons fell between Jan 13 and Jan 24. Earliest Jan 1 (2006), latest Feb 7 (2015).
Closing signal
Median Feb 21; middle half between Feb 9 and Feb 28. Earliest Jan 27 (2020), latest Mar 12 (2003).
Sap days by month
Dec26%Jan23%Feb24%Mar21%Apr5%May0%

36 seasons of sap weather

Lincoln County seasons, 1991–2026

The best sap year at Hamlin was 2000 with 72 freeze-thaw days; the leanest was 2016 with 40. 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 23 – Feb 27, 56 sap days5620252025: Jan 24 – Feb 28, 56 sap days5620242024: Jan 6 – Feb 9, 59 sap days5920232023: Jan 7 – Jan 28, 49 sap days4920222022: Jan 25 – Mar 1, 60 sap days6020212021: Feb 2 – Mar 9, 64 sap days6420202020: Jan 2 – Jan 27, 45 sap days4520192019: Jan 22 – Feb 5, 50 sap days5020182018: Jan 15 – Feb 13, 59 sap days5920174620162016: Jan 20 – Feb 19, 40 sap days4020152015: Feb 7 – Mar 8, 49 sap days4920142014: Feb 4 – Mar 11, 65 sap days6520132013: Jan 10 – Feb 14, 65 sap days6520122012: Jan 1 – Feb 4, 61 sap days6120112011: Jan 21 – Feb 21, 45 sap days4520102010: Feb 3 – Mar 8, 41 sap days4120092009: Jan 29 – Mar 5, 53 sap days5320082008: Jan 12 – Feb 16, 64 sap days6420072007: Jan 19 – Feb 23, 56 sap days5620062006: Jan 1 – Jan 28, 67 sap days6720055320042004: Jan 24 – Feb 28, 68 sap days6820032003: Feb 6 – Mar 12, 41 sap days4120022002: Jan 5 – Feb 9, 66 sap days6620012001: Jan 20 – Feb 24, 66 sap days6620002000: Jan 16 – Feb 18, 72 sap days7219991999: Jan 8 – Jan 31, 66 sap days6619981998: Jan 14 – Jan 29, 44 sap days4419971997: Jan 15 – Jan 31, 53 sap days5319961996: Jan 23 – Feb 20, 59 sap days5919951995: Jan 18 – Feb 22, 56 sap days5619941994: Jan 26 – Mar 1, 51 sap days5119931993: Jan 15 – Feb 11, 57 sap days5719921992: Jan 20 – Feb 22, 70 sap days7019911991: Jan 17 – Feb 21, 68 sap days68
Each bar runs from the season's opening signal to its closing signal, estimated from daily temperatures at Hamlin. Dashed lines mark the typical dates. The right column counts freeze-thaw sap days from December through May.

Maple production

Lincoln County in the Census of Agriculture

USDA counts maple operations every five years. In Lincoln County the 2022 Census found 9 farms making syrup, with taps null and syrup output null over the same five years. That works out to about 0.07 gallons of syrup per tap in 2022. Among the 385 counties in this atlas, Lincoln County ranks 216 by taps.

Lincoln County maple production, 2017 and 2022 (USDA Census of Agriculture)
Census yearFarmsTapsGallons of syrupGal / tap
202293,6752760.07
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 Hamlin (764ft), 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

Lincoln County sugaring questions

When should I tap maple trees in Lincoln County, West Virginia?
In a typical year the sap starts running around January 27 near Hamlin and the season winds down around March 4. 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 7.
How much maple syrup does Lincoln County produce?
The 2022 Census of Agriculture counted 9 maple operations in Lincoln County with 3,675 taps producing 276 gallons of syrup, ranking 3 of 29 West Virginia's counties with published tap counts.
How many sap days does Lincoln County get in a season?
On average 56.7 freeze-thaw sap days from December through May at Hamlin, of which about 12.2 are textbook days with a night in the 20s and a day in the 40s. The best season since 1991 was 2000 (72 sap days); the leanest was 2016 (40).
Where do these dates come from?
From 36 seasons of daily high and low temperatures at Hamlin (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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