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Wisconsin · county maple atlas

Maple sugaring in Forest County, Wisconsin

Forest County had 12 maple operations and 58,652 taps in the 2022 Census. Around Crandon, sap usually runs from March 26 to April 22. Here's the long-run pattern, 36 seasons of sap weather, and the outlook this week.
Too early to tapAbout 171 days until the usual start.
Sap starts
Mar 26
typical year
Season ends
Apr 22
about 4 weeks
Sap days / season
39.1
1991–2026 average
Taps, 2022
58,652
#7 of 60 in WI

Sap-flow outlook at Crandon right now

Full Wisconsin forecast →

Forecast for Crandon, WI

Updated Oct 6, 9:36 AM EDT

Off-season for now. Sap needs freezing nights, and none are in sight. Forest County's season usually opens around March 26, which is 171 days away.

No freeze-thaw days in the forecast

freeze thaw 32°F

  1. WedOct 7
    45° / 66°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  2. ThuOct 8
    40° / 60°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  3. FriOct 9
    36° / 62°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  4. SatOct 10
    43° / 71°

    0h below · 24h above

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

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  6. MonOct 12
    48° / 59°
    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 Crandon

Freeze-thaw weather at Crandon peaks in the weeks of Mar 9 to Apr 20, which hold about 59% of a season's sap days. April is the busiest month.
Typical season: Mar 26 – Apr 220246Week of Dec 1: 0.9 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 8: 1.0 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 15: 0.6 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 22: 0.5 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 29: 0.3 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 5: 0.4 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 12: 0.2 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 19: 0.2 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 26: 0.4 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 2: 1.1 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 9: 0.8 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 16: 1.1 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 23: 1.3 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 2: 2.3 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 9: 2.5 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 16: 2.9 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 23: 3.3 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 30: 3.6 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 6: 3.9 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 13: 3.0 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 20: 3.6 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 27: 2.2 sap days on averageWeek of May 4: 1.3 sap days on averageWeek of May 11: 1.0 sap days on averageWeek of May 18: 0.5 sap days on averageWeek of May 25: 0.1 sap days on averageDecJanFebMarAprMaytaps in ~Mar 26
Average number of freeze-thaw sap days in each week of the season at Crandon, 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 Mar 23; the middle half of seasons fell between Mar 13 and Mar 29. Earliest Feb 16 (2012), latest Apr 6 (1996).
Closing signal
Median Apr 25; middle half between Apr 15 and Apr 30. Earliest Mar 17 (2012), latest May 7 (1996).
Sap days by month
Dec8%Jan4%Feb11%Mar32%Apr37%May9%

36 seasons of sap weather

Forest County seasons, 1991–2026

The best sap year at Crandon was 1995 with 54 freeze-thaw days; the leanest was 2006 with 26. 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: Mar 13 – Apr 11, 37 sap days3720252025: Mar 24 – Apr 22, 41 sap days4120242024: Mar 11 – Apr 14, 52 sap days5220232023: Mar 29 – Apr 27, 38 sap days3820222022: Apr 2 – May 5, 34 sap days3420212021: Mar 5 – Apr 4, 44 sap days4420202020: Mar 29 – May 2, 47 sap days4720192019: Mar 30 – Apr 29, 41 sap days4120182018: Apr 1 – Apr 30, 45 sap days4520172017: Mar 11 – Apr 14, 39 sap days3920162016: Mar 16 – Apr 15, 38 sap days3820152015: Mar 17 – Apr 15, 37 sap days3720142014: Apr 4 – May 6, 26 sap days2620132013: Apr 3 – May 4, 26 sap days2620122012: Feb 16 – Mar 17, 41 sap days4120112011: Apr 1 – May 4, 39 sap days3920102010: Mar 2 – Mar 30, 38 sap days3820092009: Mar 25 – Apr 28, 38 sap days3820082008: Mar 29 – May 1, 29 sap days2920072007: Mar 16 – Apr 20, 26 sap days2620062006: Mar 14 – Apr 15, 26 sap days2620052005: Mar 10 – Apr 14, 42 sap days4220042004: Mar 25 – Apr 29, 43 sap days4320032003: Mar 20 – Apr 24, 35 sap days3520022002: Mar 27 – May 1, 46 sap days4620012001: Mar 22 – Apr 25, 31 sap days3120002000: Mar 11 – Apr 15, 41 sap days4119991999: Mar 13 – Apr 14, 46 sap days4619981998: Mar 9 – Apr 11, 44 sap days4419971997: Mar 27 – May 1, 36 sap days3619961996: Apr 6 – May 7, 41 sap days4119951995: Mar 27 – Apr 30, 54 sap days5419941994: Mar 21 – Apr 23, 47 sap days4719931993: Mar 27 – Apr 27, 38 sap days3819921992: Mar 28 – Apr 29, 37 sap days3719911991: Mar 16 – Apr 20, 44 sap days44
Each bar runs from the season's opening signal to its closing signal, estimated from daily temperatures at Crandon. Dashed lines mark the typical dates. The right column counts freeze-thaw sap days from December through May.

Maple production

Forest County in the Census of Agriculture

USDA counts maple operations every five years. In Forest County the 2022 Census found 12 farms making syrup (+100% since 2017), with taps +118% and syrup output +46% over the same five years. That works out to about 0.30 gallons of syrup per tap in 2022 (0.45 in 2017). Among the 385 counties in this atlas, Forest County ranks 47 by taps.

Forest County maple production, 2017 and 2022 (USDA Census of Agriculture)
Census yearFarmsTapsGallons of syrupGal / tap
20221258,65217,7790.30
2017626,96612,2100.45

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 Crandon (1,627ft), 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 Wisconsin's USDA record (12 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 — Wisconsin, 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

Forest County sugaring questions

When should I tap maple trees in Forest County, Wisconsin?
In a typical year the sap starts running around March 26 near Crandon and the season winds down around April 22. 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 Feb 16 and as late as Apr 6.
How much maple syrup does Forest County produce?
The 2022 Census of Agriculture counted 12 maple operations in Forest County with 58,652 taps producing 17,779 gallons of syrup, ranking 7 of 60 Wisconsin's counties with published tap counts.
How many sap days does Forest County get in a season?
On average 39.1 freeze-thaw sap days from December through May at Crandon, of which about 8.7 are textbook days with a night in the 20s and a day in the 40s. The best season since 1991 was 1995 (54 sap days); the leanest was 2006 (26).
Where do these dates come from?
From 36 seasons of daily high and low temperatures at Crandon (PRISM 4-km grid), scored with the same freeze-thaw rule as our live forecast, then calibrated against USDA's reported season dates for Wisconsin. 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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