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West Virginia · county maple atlas

Maple sugaring in Preston County, West Virginia

Preston County had 10 maple operations and 14,655 taps in the 2022 Census, the most of any county in West Virginia. Around Kingwood, sap usually runs from February 8 to March 17. Here's the long-run pattern, 36 seasons of sap weather, and the outlook this week.
Too early to tapAbout 125 days until the usual start.
Sap starts
Feb 8
typical year
Season ends
Mar 17
about 5 weeks
Sap days / season
48.6
1991–2026 average
Taps, 2022
14,655
#1 of 29 in WV

Sap-flow outlook at Kingwood right now

Full West Virginia forecast →

Forecast for Kingwood, WV

Updated Oct 6, 8:36 AM EDT

Off-season for now. Sap needs freezing nights, and none are in sight. Preston County's season usually opens around February 8, which is 125 days away.

No freeze-thaw days in the forecast

freeze thaw 32°F

  1. WedOct 7
    45° / 71°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  2. ThuOct 8
    53° / 71°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  3. FriOct 9
    46° / 67°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  4. SatOct 10
    45° / 72°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  5. SunOct 11
    51° / 67°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  6. MonOct 12
    53° / 70°
    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 Kingwood

Freeze-thaw weather at Kingwood peaks in the weeks of Jan 26 to Mar 23, which hold about 53% of a season's sap days. March is the busiest month.
Typical season: Feb 8 – Mar 170246Week of Dec 1: 2.2 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 8: 3.0 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 15: 2.7 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: 2.2 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 12: 1.9 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: 3.0 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 9: 2.9 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 16: 2.9 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 23: 3.0 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: 2.6 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 30: 1.7 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 6: 1.5 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 13: 0.8 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 20: 0.4 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 27: 0.2 sap days on averageWeek of May 4: 0.1 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 ~Feb 8
Average number of freeze-thaw sap days in each week of the season at Kingwood, 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 Feb 1; the middle half of seasons fell between Jan 22 and Feb 8. Earliest Jan 7 (2020), latest Feb 23 (2014).
Closing signal
Median Mar 6; middle half between Feb 20 and Mar 13. Earliest Feb 7 (2005), latest Mar 30 (2014).
Sap days by month
Dec23%Jan19%Feb24%Mar25%Apr8%May0%

36 seasons of sap weather

Preston County seasons, 1991–2026

The best sap year at Kingwood was 2018 with 65 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 30 – Mar 3, 38 sap days3820252025: Feb 5 – Mar 10, 45 sap days4520242024: Jan 11 – Feb 15, 48 sap days4820232023: Jan 8 – Feb 8, 53 sap days5320222022: Jan 31 – Mar 5, 50 sap days5020212021: Feb 7 – Mar 14, 46 sap days4620202020: Jan 7 – Feb 10, 45 sap days4520192019: Jan 26 – Mar 2, 57 sap days5720182018: Jan 17 – Feb 18, 65 sap days6520172017: Jan 31 – Feb 7, 38 sap days3820162016: Feb 2 – Mar 8, 49 sap days4920152015: Feb 19 – Mar 25, 49 sap days4920142014: Feb 23 – Mar 30, 49 sap days4920132013: Feb 9 – Mar 16, 51 sap days5120122012: Jan 20 – Feb 22, 53 sap days5320112011: Feb 8 – Mar 9, 35 sap days3520102010: Feb 14 – Mar 18, 28 sap days2820092009: Feb 4 – Mar 6, 50 sap days5020082008: Feb 1 – Mar 8, 56 sap days5620072007: Feb 6 – Mar 13, 42 sap days4220062006: Jan 16 – Feb 14, 46 sap days4620052005: Jan 25 – Feb 7, 40 sap days4020042004: Feb 4 – Mar 11, 52 sap days5220032003: Feb 14 – Mar 15, 35 sap days3520022002: Jan 17 – Feb 20, 61 sap days6120012001: Feb 10 – Mar 13, 51 sap days5120002000: Jan 22 – Feb 23, 58 sap days5819991999: Jan 12 – Feb 16, 56 sap days5619981998: Jan 14 – Feb 16, 47 sap days4719971997: Jan 22 – Feb 26, 55 sap days5519961996: Feb 8 – Mar 15, 49 sap days4919951995: Feb 15 – Mar 12, 56 sap days5619941994: Feb 16 – Mar 22, 49 sap days4919931993: Feb 17 – Mar 20, 43 sap days4319921992: Jan 27 – Mar 2, 54 sap days5419911991: Jan 27 – Mar 1, 51 sap days51
Each bar runs from the season's opening signal to its closing signal, estimated from daily temperatures at Kingwood. Dashed lines mark the typical dates. The right column counts freeze-thaw sap days from December through May.

Maple production

Preston County in the Census of Agriculture

USDA counts maple operations every five years. In Preston County the 2022 Census found 10 farms making syrup (-23% since 2017), with taps +3% and syrup output +72% over the same five years. That works out to about 0.18 gallons of syrup per tap in 2022 (0.11 in 2017). Among the 385 counties in this atlas, Preston County ranks 111 by taps.

Preston County maple production, 2017 and 2022 (USDA Census of Agriculture)
Census yearFarmsTapsGallons of syrupGal / tap
20221014,6552,6370.18
20171314,1901,5370.11

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 Kingwood (1,483ft), 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

Preston County sugaring questions

When should I tap maple trees in Preston County, West Virginia?
In a typical year the sap starts running around February 8 near Kingwood and the season winds down around March 17. 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 7 and as late as Feb 23.
How much maple syrup does Preston County produce?
The 2022 Census of Agriculture counted 10 maple operations in Preston County with 14,655 taps producing 2,637 gallons of syrup, ranking 1 of 29 West Virginia's counties with published tap counts.
How many sap days does Preston County get in a season?
On average 48.6 freeze-thaw sap days from December through May at Kingwood, of which about 14.7 are textbook days with a night in the 20s and a day in the 40s. The best season since 1991 was 2018 (65 sap days); the leanest was 2010 (28).
Where do these dates come from?
From 36 seasons of daily high and low temperatures at Kingwood (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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