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West Virginia · county maple atlas

Maple sugaring in Summers County, West Virginia

Summers County had 5 maple operations and 3,400 taps in the 2022 Census, number 4 in West Virginia. Around Hinton, sap usually runs from February 1 to March 8. 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 8
about 5 weeks
Sap days / season
50.1
1991–2026 average
Taps, 2022
3,400
#4 of 29 in WV

Sap-flow outlook at Hinton right now

Full West Virginia forecast →

Forecast for Hinton, WV

Updated Oct 6, 8:00 AM EDT

Off-season for now. Sap needs freezing nights, and none are in sight. Summers 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
    46° / 76°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  2. ThuOct 8
    52° / 77°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  3. FriOct 9
    48° / 74°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  4. SatOct 10
    47° / 73°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  5. SunOct 11
    51° / 66°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  6. MonOct 12
    54° / 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 Hinton

Freeze-thaw weather at Hinton peaks in the weeks of Dec 1 to Mar 23, which hold about 93% of a season's sap days. December is the busiest month.
Typical season: Feb 1 – Mar 80246Week of Dec 1: 2.8 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 8: 3.1 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 15: 2.9 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 22: 2.6 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 29: 2.1 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 5: 2.3 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 12: 2.5 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 19: 2.4 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 26: 3.1 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 2: 3.5 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 9: 3.4 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 16: 2.8 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 23: 2.7 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: 2.5 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 23: 2.2 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 30: 1.3 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 6: 1.2 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 13: 0.4 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: 0.1 sap days on averageWeek of May 18: 0.0 sap days on averageWeek of May 25: 0.0 sap days on averageDecJanFebMarAprMaytaps in ~Feb 1
Average number of freeze-thaw sap days in each week of the season at Hinton, 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 Jan 31. Earliest Jan 2 (2020), latest Feb 12 (2010).
Closing signal
Median Feb 25; middle half between Feb 16 and Mar 6. Earliest Jan 25 (2017), latest Mar 19 (2010).
Sap days by month
Dec25%Jan22%Feb25%Mar23%Apr6%May0%

36 seasons of sap weather

Summers County seasons, 1991–2026

The best sap year at Hinton was 2014 with 65 freeze-thaw days; the leanest was 2003 with 37. 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 – Feb 25, 49 sap days4920252025: Feb 1 – Mar 8, 50 sap days5020242024: Jan 8 – Feb 8, 53 sap days5320232023: Jan 7 – Feb 8, 52 sap days5220222022: Jan 27 – Mar 1, 59 sap days5920212021: Feb 5 – Mar 9, 54 sap days5420202020: Jan 2 – Jan 27, 48 sap days4820192019: Jan 18 – Feb 15, 46 sap days4620182018: Jan 19 – Feb 14, 53 sap days5320172017: Jan 25 – Jan 25, 46 sap days4620162016: Feb 2 – Mar 9, 49 sap days4920152015: Feb 10 – Mar 8, 43 sap days4320142014: Feb 12 – Mar 19, 65 sap days6520132013: Feb 4 – Mar 10, 55 sap days5520122012: Jan 14 – Feb 18, 54 sap days5420112011: Jan 24 – Feb 21, 38 sap days3820102010: Feb 12 – Mar 19, 38 sap days3820092009: Jan 31 – Mar 6, 47 sap days4720082008: Jan 20 – Feb 24, 56 sap days5620072007: Jan 25 – Mar 1, 56 sap days5620062006: Jan 16 – Feb 2, 46 sap days4620052005: Jan 25 – Feb 6, 41 sap days4120042004: Jan 29 – Mar 2, 57 sap days5720032003: Feb 9 – Mar 13, 37 sap days3720022002: Jan 16 – Feb 20, 63 sap days6320012001: Jan 24 – Feb 28, 60 sap days6020002000: Jan 21 – Feb 23, 48 sap days4819991999: Jan 8 – Feb 6, 47 sap days4719981998: Jan 13 – Feb 16, 42 sap days4219971997: Jan 17 – Feb 19, 50 sap days5019961996: Jan 30 – Mar 6, 49 sap days4919951995: Jan 23 – Feb 26, 46 sap days4619941994: Jan 31 – Mar 6, 47 sap days4719931993: Jan 26 – Mar 2, 42 sap days4219921992: Jan 18 – Feb 22, 59 sap days5919911991: Jan 19 – Feb 23, 59 sap days59
Each bar runs from the season's opening signal to its closing signal, estimated from daily temperatures at Hinton. Dashed lines mark the typical dates. The right column counts freeze-thaw sap days from December through May.

Maple production

Summers County in the Census of Agriculture

USDA counts maple operations every five years. In Summers County the 2022 Census found 5 farms making syrup (+150% since 2017). That works out to about 0.27 gallons of syrup per tap in 2022. Among the 385 counties in this atlas, Summers County ranks 219 by taps.

Summers County maple production, 2017 and 2022 (USDA Census of Agriculture)
Census yearFarmsTapsGallons of syrupGal / tap
202253,4009160.27
20172withheldwithheld—

“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 Hinton (1,991ft), 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

Summers County sugaring questions

When should I tap maple trees in Summers County, West Virginia?
In a typical year the sap starts running around February 1 near Hinton and the season winds down around March 8. 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 2 and as late as Feb 12.
How much maple syrup does Summers County produce?
The 2022 Census of Agriculture counted 5 maple operations in Summers County with 3,400 taps producing 916 gallons of syrup, ranking 4 of 29 West Virginia's counties with published tap counts.
How many sap days does Summers County get in a season?
On average 50.1 freeze-thaw sap days from December through May at Hinton, of which about 14.8 are textbook days with a night in the 20s and a day in the 40s. The best season since 1991 was 2014 (65 sap days); the leanest was 2003 (37).
Where do these dates come from?
From 36 seasons of daily high and low temperatures at Hinton (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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