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West Virginia · county maple atlas

Maple sugaring in Monroe County, West Virginia

Monroe County had 15 maple operations and 942 taps in the 2022 Census. Around Union, sap usually runs from February 1 to March 9. Here's the long-run pattern, 36 seasons of sap weather, and the outlook this week.
Too early to tapAbout 118 days until the usual start.
Sap starts
Feb 1
typical year
Season ends
Mar 9
about 5 weeks
Sap days / season
61.8
1991–2026 average
Taps, 2022
942
#8 of 29 in WV

Sap-flow outlook at Union right now

Full West Virginia forecast →

Forecast for Union, WV

Updated Oct 6, 8:00 AM EDT

Off-season for now. Sap needs freezing nights, and none are in sight. Monroe County's season usually opens around February 1, which is 118 days away.

No freeze-thaw days in the forecast

freeze thaw 32°F

  1. WedOct 7
    43° / 74°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  2. ThuOct 8
    49° / 75°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  3. FriOct 9
    46° / 72°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  4. SatOct 10
    45° / 70°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  5. SunOct 11
    49° / 62°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  6. MonOct 12
    52° / 69°
    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 Union

Freeze-thaw weather at Union peaks in the weeks of Dec 1 to Mar 23, which hold about 89% of a season's sap days. December is the busiest month.
Typical season: Feb 1 – Mar 90246Week of Dec 1: 3.4 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 8: 3.5 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 15: 3.5 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 22: 3.2 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 29: 2.4 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 5: 2.8 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 12: 2.7 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 19: 2.7 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 26: 3.5 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 2: 3.8 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 9: 3.8 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: 3.8 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 9: 3.4 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 16: 3.1 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 23: 2.9 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 30: 2.1 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 6: 1.9 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 13: 1.3 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 20: 0.7 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 27: 0.3 sap days on averageWeek of May 4: 0.1 sap days on averageWeek of May 11: 0.2 sap days on averageWeek of May 18: 0.1 sap days on averageWeek of May 25: 0.0 sap days on averageDecJanFebMarAprMaytaps in ~Feb 1
Average number of freeze-thaw sap days in each week of the season at Union, 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 25; the middle half of seasons fell between Jan 18 and Feb 1. Earliest Jan 5 (2020), latest Feb 14 (2014).
Closing signal
Median Feb 26; middle half between Feb 16 and Mar 8. Earliest Feb 1 (2017), latest Mar 20 (2010).
Sap days by month
Dec24%Jan20%Feb24%Mar23%Apr9%May1%

36 seasons of sap weather

Monroe County seasons, 1991–2026

The best sap year at Union was 2022 with 78 freeze-thaw days; the leanest was 2010 with 41. 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 2, 60 sap days6020252025: Feb 2 – Mar 9, 64 sap days6420242024: Jan 11 – Feb 15, 65 sap days6520232023: Jan 7 – Feb 8, 68 sap days6820222022: Jan 30 – Mar 4, 78 sap days7820212021: Feb 7 – Mar 14, 68 sap days6820202020: Jan 5 – Feb 9, 61 sap days6120192019: Jan 18 – Feb 19, 52 sap days5220182018: Jan 19 – Feb 14, 63 sap days6320172017: Jan 25 – Feb 1, 49 sap days4920162016: Feb 3 – Mar 9, 61 sap days6120152015: Feb 13 – Mar 20, 53 sap days5320142014: Feb 14 – Mar 19, 68 sap days6820132013: Feb 8 – Mar 15, 71 sap days7120122012: Jan 13 – Feb 14, 67 sap days6720112011: Jan 23 – Feb 27, 58 sap days5820102010: Feb 13 – Mar 20, 41 sap days4120092009: Jan 31 – Mar 6, 56 sap days5620082008: Jan 22 – Feb 25, 69 sap days6920072007: Jan 27 – Mar 3, 61 sap days6120062006: Jan 12 – Feb 16, 61 sap days6120052005: Jan 25 – Feb 5, 56 sap days5620042004: Jan 30 – Mar 3, 66 sap days6620032003: Feb 9 – Mar 15, 52 sap days5220022002: Jan 18 – Feb 20, 72 sap days7220012001: Jan 23 – Feb 27, 70 sap days7020002000: Jan 22 – Feb 23, 66 sap days6619991999: Jan 8 – Feb 6, 64 sap days6419981998: Jan 21 – Feb 16, 54 sap days5419971997: Jan 18 – Feb 19, 69 sap days6919961996: Jan 24 – Feb 26, 53 sap days5319951995: Jan 25 – Feb 26, 63 sap days6319941994: Feb 2 – Mar 9, 60 sap days6019931993: Feb 1 – Mar 8, 51 sap days5119921992: Jan 19 – Feb 22, 66 sap days6619911991: Jan 18 – Feb 22, 67 sap days67
Each bar runs from the season's opening signal to its closing signal, estimated from daily temperatures at Union. Dashed lines mark the typical dates. The right column counts freeze-thaw sap days from December through May.

Maple production

Monroe County in the Census of Agriculture

USDA counts maple operations every five years. In Monroe County the 2022 Census found 15 farms making syrup (+1400% since 2017). That works out to about 0.14 gallons of syrup per tap in 2022. Among the 385 counties in this atlas, Monroe County ranks 287 by taps.

Monroe County maple production, 2017 and 2022 (USDA Census of Agriculture)
Census yearFarmsTapsGallons of syrupGal / tap
2022159421330.14
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 Union (2,083ft), 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

Monroe County sugaring questions

When should I tap maple trees in Monroe County, West Virginia?
In a typical year the sap starts running around February 1 near Union and the season winds down around March 9. 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 5 and as late as Feb 14.
How much maple syrup does Monroe County produce?
The 2022 Census of Agriculture counted 15 maple operations in Monroe County with 942 taps producing 133 gallons of syrup, ranking 8 of 29 West Virginia's counties with published tap counts.
How many sap days does Monroe County get in a season?
On average 61.8 freeze-thaw sap days from December through May at Union, of which about 14.2 are textbook days with a night in the 20s and a day in the 40s. The best season since 1991 was 2022 (78 sap days); the leanest was 2010 (41).
Where do these dates come from?
From 36 seasons of daily high and low temperatures at Union (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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