Skip to content
LuckySap
Get the app
West Virginia · county maple atlas

Maple sugaring in Marion County, West Virginia

Marion County had 7 maple operations and 97 taps in the 2022 Census. Around Fairmont, sap usually runs from February 5 to March 12. 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 12
about 5 weeks
Sap days / season
45.5
1991–2026 average
Taps, 2022
97
#18 of 29 in WV

Sap-flow outlook at Fairmont right now

Full West Virginia forecast →

Forecast for Fairmont, WV

Updated Oct 6, 8:36 AM EDT

Off-season for now. Sap needs freezing nights, and none are in sight. Marion 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
    44° / 72°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  2. ThuOct 8
    53° / 73°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  3. FriOct 9
    46° / 69°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  4. SatOct 10
    46° / 73°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  5. SunOct 11
    52° / 70°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  6. MonOct 12
    55° / 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 Fairmont

Freeze-thaw weather at Fairmont peaks in the weeks of Jan 5 to Mar 23, which hold about 67% of a season's sap days. March is the busiest month.
Typical season: Feb 5 – Mar 120246Week of Dec 1: 1.9 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 8: 2.8 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 15: 2.6 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 22: 2.2 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 29: 1.9 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 5: 2.0 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 12: 2.1 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 19: 1.9 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 26: 2.5 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 2: 2.6 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 9: 2.6 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 16: 2.9 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 23: 2.9 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 2: 3.1 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 9: 2.9 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 16: 2.4 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 23: 2.4 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 30: 1.5 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 6: 1.4 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 13: 0.7 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 20: 0.1 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 ~Feb 5
Average number of freeze-thaw sap days in each week of the season at Fairmont, 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 5. Earliest Jan 6 (2020), latest Feb 19 (2007).
Closing signal
Median Mar 1; middle half between Feb 13 and Mar 10. Earliest Jan 28 (2006), latest Mar 20 (1994).
Sap days by month
Dec23%Jan20%Feb24%Mar26%Apr7%May0%

36 seasons of sap weather

Marion County seasons, 1991–2026

The best sap year at Fairmont was 2004 with 56 freeze-thaw days; the leanest was 2010 with 28. 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 29 – Mar 3, 47 sap days4720252025: Feb 5 – Mar 11, 49 sap days4920242024: Jan 9 – Feb 9, 49 sap days4920232023: Jan 8 – Feb 8, 50 sap days5020222022: Jan 30 – Mar 5, 47 sap days4720212021: Feb 6 – Mar 13, 46 sap days4620202020: Jan 6 – Jan 31, 38 sap days3820192019: Jan 17 – Feb 20, 48 sap days4820182018: Jan 16 – Feb 18, 54 sap days5420172017: Jan 30 – Feb 7, 36 sap days3620162016: Jan 24 – Feb 28, 42 sap days4220152015: Feb 14 – Mar 20, 40 sap days4020142014: Feb 14 – Mar 18, 47 sap days4720132013: Jan 23 – Feb 25, 41 sap days4120122012: Jan 14 – Feb 18, 44 sap days4420112011: Feb 1 – Mar 8, 40 sap days4020102010: Feb 11 – Mar 10, 28 sap days2820092009: Feb 2 – Mar 6, 49 sap days4920082008: Jan 28 – Feb 24, 44 sap days4420072007: Feb 19 – Mar 10, 42 sap days4220062006: Jan 16 – Jan 28, 40 sap days4020052005: Jan 25 – Feb 6, 37 sap days3720042004: Jan 31 – Mar 2, 56 sap days5620032003: Feb 12 – Mar 15, 29 sap days2920022002: Jan 16 – Feb 10, 51 sap days5120012001: Feb 5 – Mar 12, 50 sap days5020002000: Jan 21 – Feb 22, 53 sap days5319991999: Jan 7 – Feb 11, 54 sap days5419981998: Jan 11 – Feb 10, 44 sap days4419971997: Jan 20 – Feb 24, 52 sap days5219961996: Jan 31 – Mar 6, 47 sap days4719951995: Feb 15 – Mar 4, 52 sap days5219941994: Feb 14 – Mar 20, 44 sap days4419931993: Feb 3 – Mar 10, 43 sap days4319921992: Jan 21 – Feb 13, 51 sap days5119911991: Jan 25 – Mar 1, 54 sap days54
Each bar runs from the season's opening signal to its closing signal, estimated from daily temperatures at Fairmont. Dashed lines mark the typical dates. The right column counts freeze-thaw sap days from December through May.

Maple production

Marion County in the Census of Agriculture

USDA counts maple operations every five years. In Marion County the 2022 Census found 7 farms making syrup (+600% since 2017). That works out to about 0.23 gallons of syrup per tap in 2022. Among the 385 counties in this atlas, Marion County ranks 363 by taps.

Marion County maple production, 2017 and 2022 (USDA Census of Agriculture)
Census yearFarmsTapsGallons of syrupGal / tap
2022797220.23
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 Fairmont (1,040ft), 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

Marion County sugaring questions

When should I tap maple trees in Marion County, West Virginia?
In a typical year the sap starts running around February 5 near Fairmont and the season winds down around March 12. 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 6 and as late as Feb 19.
How much maple syrup does Marion County produce?
The 2022 Census of Agriculture counted 7 maple operations in Marion County with 97 taps producing 22 gallons of syrup, ranking 18 of 29 West Virginia's counties with published tap counts.
How many sap days does Marion County get in a season?
On average 45.5 freeze-thaw sap days from December through May at Fairmont, of which about 13.8 are textbook days with a night in the 20s and a day in the 40s. The best season since 1991 was 2004 (56 sap days); the leanest was 2010 (28).
Where do these dates come from?
From 36 seasons of daily high and low temperatures at Fairmont (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.

LuckySap · free on iPhone & Android

Get a heads-up when the sap will run in Marion County

LuckySap watches the forecast for your trees and can ping you the night before a strong sap day, then keeps every collection and boil in one season log. Free on iPhone and Android.

Download on the App StoreGet it on Google Play