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

Maple sugaring in Ritchie County, West Virginia

Ritchie County had 8 maple operations and 208 taps in the 2022 Census. Around Harrisville, sap usually runs from February 6 to March 14. Here's the long-run pattern, 36 seasons of sap weather, and the outlook this week.
Too early to tapAbout 123 days until the usual start.
Sap starts
Feb 6
typical year
Season ends
Mar 14
about 5 weeks
Sap days / season
54.7
1991–2026 average
Taps, 2022
208
#14 of 29 in WV

Sap-flow outlook at Harrisville right now

Full West Virginia forecast →

Forecast for Harrisville, WV

Updated Oct 6, 9:50 AM EDT

Off-season for now. Sap needs freezing nights, and none are in sight. Ritchie County's season usually opens around February 6, which is 123 days away.

No freeze-thaw days in the forecast

freeze thaw 32°F

  1. WedOct 7
    45° / 72°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  2. ThuOct 8
    52° / 76°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  3. FriOct 9
    46° / 73°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  4. SatOct 10
    47° / 76°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  5. SunOct 11
    52° / 73°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  6. MonOct 12
    55° / 75°
    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 Harrisville

Freeze-thaw weather at Harrisville peaks in the weeks of Jan 26 to Mar 30, which hold about 56% of a season's sap days. March is the busiest month.
Typical season: Feb 6 – Mar 140246Week of Dec 1: 2.8 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 8: 3.4 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 15: 3.1 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 22: 2.7 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 29: 2.3 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 5: 2.4 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 12: 2.1 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 19: 2.1 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 26: 2.7 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 2: 3.3 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 9: 3.3 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 16: 3.2 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 23: 3.2 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 2: 3.5 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 9: 3.5 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 16: 2.8 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 23: 2.9 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 30: 2.2 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 6: 1.6 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: 0.1 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 6
Average number of freeze-thaw sap days in each week of the season at Harrisville, 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 30; the middle half of seasons fell between Jan 19 and Feb 3. Earliest Jan 5 (2020), latest Feb 14 (2015).
Closing signal
Median Mar 3; middle half between Feb 18 and Mar 9. Earliest Feb 1 (2006), latest Mar 19 (2015).
Sap days by month
Dec24%Jan19%Feb24%Mar25%Apr8%May0%

36 seasons of sap weather

Ritchie County seasons, 1991–2026

The best sap year at Harrisville was 2018 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 28 – Mar 3, 48 sap days4820252025: Feb 4 – Mar 11, 51 sap days5120242024: Jan 8 – Feb 9, 53 sap days5320232023: Jan 7 – Feb 8, 54 sap days5420222022: Jan 31 – Mar 5, 59 sap days5920212021: Feb 6 – Mar 10, 58 sap days5820202020: Jan 5 – Feb 9, 56 sap days5620192019: Jan 20 – Feb 20, 57 sap days5720182018: Jan 16 – Feb 18, 73 sap days7320172017: Jan 28 – Feb 6, 42 sap days4220162016: Jan 30 – Mar 4, 51 sap days5120152015: Feb 14 – Mar 19, 52 sap days5220142014: Feb 13 – Mar 18, 53 sap days5320132013: Feb 2 – Mar 9, 58 sap days5820122012: Jan 17 – Feb 21, 64 sap days6420112011: Feb 1 – Mar 8, 52 sap days5220102010: Feb 10 – Mar 10, 39 sap days3920092009: Feb 3 – Mar 6, 52 sap days5220082008: Jan 29 – Mar 4, 58 sap days5820072007: Feb 2 – Mar 9, 52 sap days5220062006: Jan 7 – Feb 1, 53 sap days5320052005: Jan 25 – Feb 7, 50 sap days5020042004: Jan 31 – Mar 2, 63 sap days6320032003: Feb 12 – Mar 15, 40 sap days4020022002: Jan 15 – Feb 19, 63 sap days6320012001: Feb 5 – Mar 12, 55 sap days5520002000: Jan 21 – Feb 23, 59 sap days5919991999: Jan 8 – Feb 11, 63 sap days6319981998: Jan 11 – Feb 11, 47 sap days4719971997: Jan 20 – Feb 24, 63 sap days6319961996: Feb 8 – Mar 15, 54 sap days5419951995: Jan 31 – Mar 5, 57 sap days5719941994: Feb 11 – Mar 18, 51 sap days5119931993: Jan 30 – Mar 2, 45 sap days4519921992: Jan 21 – Feb 18, 57 sap days5719911991: Jan 26 – Mar 1, 66 sap days66
Each bar runs from the season's opening signal to its closing signal, estimated from daily temperatures at Harrisville. Dashed lines mark the typical dates. The right column counts freeze-thaw sap days from December through May.

Maple production

Ritchie County in the Census of Agriculture

USDA counts maple operations every five years. In Ritchie County the 2022 Census found 8 farms making syrup (+60% since 2017), with taps -84% and syrup output -71% over the same five years. That works out to about 0.21 gallons of syrup per tap in 2022 (0.12 in 2017). Among the 385 counties in this atlas, Ritchie County ranks 343 by taps.

Ritchie County maple production, 2017 and 2022 (USDA Census of Agriculture)
Census yearFarmsTapsGallons of syrupGal / tap
20228208440.21
201751,3301530.12

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 Harrisville (909ft), 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

Ritchie County sugaring questions

When should I tap maple trees in Ritchie County, West Virginia?
In a typical year the sap starts running around February 6 near Harrisville and the season winds down around March 14. 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 Ritchie County produce?
The 2022 Census of Agriculture counted 8 maple operations in Ritchie County with 208 taps producing 44 gallons of syrup, ranking 14 of 29 West Virginia's counties with published tap counts.
How many sap days does Ritchie County get in a season?
On average 54.7 freeze-thaw sap days from December through May at Harrisville, of which about 13.6 are textbook days with a night in the 20s and a day in the 40s. The best season since 1991 was 2018 (73 sap days); the leanest was 2010 (39).
Where do these dates come from?
From 36 seasons of daily high and low temperatures at Harrisville (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 Ritchie 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