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West Virginia · county maple atlas

Maple sugaring in Wood County, West Virginia

Wood County had 9 maple operations and 159 taps in the 2022 Census. Around Parkersburg, sap usually runs from February 1 to March 10. 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 10
about 5 weeks
Sap days / season
46.8
1991–2026 average
Taps, 2022
159
#16 of 29 in WV

Sap-flow outlook at Parkersburg right now

Full West Virginia forecast →

Forecast for Parkersburg, WV

Updated Oct 6, 9:50 AM EDT

Off-season for now. Sap needs freezing nights, and none are in sight. Wood 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
    45° / 73°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  2. ThuOct 8
    53° / 76°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  3. FriOct 9
    47° / 73°

    0h below · 24h above

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

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  5. SunOct 11
    54° / 73°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  6. MonOct 12
    56° / 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 Parkersburg

Freeze-thaw weather at Parkersburg peaks in the weeks of Jan 26 to Mar 23, which hold about 54% of a season's sap days. March is the busiest month.
Typical season: Feb 1 – Mar 100246Week of Dec 1: 2.6 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 8: 2.9 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 15: 2.6 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: 2.3 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 12: 2.0 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 19: 1.9 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 26: 2.6 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 2: 2.9 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 9: 2.8 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 16: 2.8 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 23: 3.0 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 2: 3.3 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 9: 3.1 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 16: 2.4 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 23: 2.5 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 30: 1.3 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 6: 1.1 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 13: 0.3 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 20: 0.2 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 27: 0.0 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 1
Average number of freeze-thaw sap days in each week of the season at Parkersburg, 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 20 (2003).
Closing signal
Median Feb 27; middle half between Feb 14 and Mar 5. Earliest Jan 28 (2006), latest Mar 18 (2014).
Sap days by month
Dec24%Jan21%Feb24%Mar26%Apr5%May0%

36 seasons of sap weather

Wood County seasons, 1991–2026

The best sap year at Parkersburg was 2018 with 60 freeze-thaw days; the leanest was 2010 with 35. 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, 44 sap days4420252025: Feb 4 – Mar 10, 46 sap days4620242024: Jan 7 – Feb 9, 52 sap days5220232023: Jan 7 – Feb 7, 49 sap days4920222022: Jan 31 – Mar 5, 51 sap days5120212021: Feb 5 – Mar 10, 49 sap days4920202020: Jan 2 – Jan 31, 40 sap days4020192019: Jan 22 – Feb 20, 51 sap days5120182018: Jan 19 – Feb 18, 60 sap days6020173920162016: Jan 25 – Feb 28, 39 sap days3920152015: Feb 10 – Mar 13, 42 sap days4220142014: Feb 11 – Mar 18, 45 sap days4520132013: Jan 30 – Mar 5, 48 sap days4820122012: Jan 12 – Feb 14, 48 sap days4820112011: Jan 29 – Mar 4, 39 sap days3920102010: Feb 7 – Mar 10, 35 sap days3520092009: Feb 1 – Mar 6, 40 sap days4020082008: Jan 22 – Feb 24, 46 sap days4620072007: Jan 26 – Mar 1, 42 sap days4220062006: Jan 16 – Jan 28, 45 sap days4520052005: Jan 25 – Feb 6, 47 sap days4720042004: Jan 30 – Mar 2, 53 sap days5320032003: Feb 20 – Mar 15, 36 sap days3620022002: Jan 9 – Feb 9, 53 sap days5320012001: Jan 23 – Feb 27, 53 sap days5320002000: Jan 19 – Feb 22, 49 sap days4919991999: Jan 8 – Feb 6, 56 sap days5619981998: Jan 11 – Feb 2, 36 sap days3619971997: Jan 17 – Feb 21, 49 sap days4919961996: Jan 24 – Feb 20, 46 sap days4619951995: Jan 29 – Mar 5, 44 sap days4419941994: Feb 8 – Mar 14, 51 sap days5119931993: Jan 30 – Mar 2, 48 sap days4819921992: Jan 21 – Feb 18, 56 sap days5619911991: Jan 18 – Feb 14, 58 sap days58
Each bar runs from the season's opening signal to its closing signal, estimated from daily temperatures at Parkersburg. Dashed lines mark the typical dates. The right column counts freeze-thaw sap days from December through May.

Maple production

Wood County in the Census of Agriculture

USDA counts maple operations every five years. In Wood County the 2022 Census found 9 farms making syrup (+125% since 2017), with taps -56% and syrup output +29% over the same five years. That works out to about 0.41 gallons of syrup per tap in 2022 (0.14 in 2017). Among the 385 counties in this atlas, Wood County ranks 352 by taps.

Wood County maple production, 2017 and 2022 (USDA Census of Agriculture)
Census yearFarmsTapsGallons of syrupGal / tap
20229159660.41
20174360510.14

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 Parkersburg (640ft), 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

Wood County sugaring questions

When should I tap maple trees in Wood County, West Virginia?
In a typical year the sap starts running around February 1 near Parkersburg and the season winds down around March 10. 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 20.
How much maple syrup does Wood County produce?
The 2022 Census of Agriculture counted 9 maple operations in Wood County with 159 taps producing 66 gallons of syrup, ranking 16 of 29 West Virginia's counties with published tap counts.
How many sap days does Wood County get in a season?
On average 46.8 freeze-thaw sap days from December through May at Parkersburg, 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 (60 sap days); the leanest was 2010 (35).
Where do these dates come from?
From 36 seasons of daily high and low temperatures at Parkersburg (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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