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Wisconsin · county maple atlas

Maple sugaring in Price County, Wisconsin

Price County had 24 maple operations and 80,594 taps in the 2022 Census, number 5 in Wisconsin. Around Phillips, sap usually runs from March 23 to April 20. Here's the long-run pattern, 36 seasons of sap weather, and the outlook this week.
Too early to tapAbout 168 days until the usual start.
Sap starts
Mar 23
typical year
Season ends
Apr 20
about 4 weeks
Sap days / season
36.1
1991–2026 average
Taps, 2022
80,594
#5 of 60 in WI

Sap-flow outlook at Phillips right now

Full Wisconsin forecast →

Forecast for Phillips, WI

Updated Oct 6, 10:51 AM EDT

Off-season for now. Sap needs freezing nights, and none are in sight. Price County's season usually opens around March 23, which is 168 days away.

No freeze-thaw days in the forecast

freeze thaw 32°F

  1. WedOct 7
    43° / 68°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  2. ThuOct 8
    37° / 61°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  3. FriOct 9
    34° / 63°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  4. SatOct 10
    46° / 74°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  5. SunOct 11
    56° / 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 Phillips

Freeze-thaw weather at Phillips peaks in the weeks of Mar 2 to Apr 20, which hold about 64% of a season's sap days. April is the busiest month.
Typical season: Mar 23 – Apr 200246Week of Dec 1: 0.8 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 8: 1.1 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 15: 0.7 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 22: 0.4 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: 0.6 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 2: 1.1 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 9: 0.9 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: 2.2 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 9: 2.4 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 16: 2.8 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 23: 3.3 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 30: 3.4 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 6: 3.4 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 13: 2.6 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 20: 2.9 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 27: 1.9 sap days on averageWeek of May 4: 1.0 sap days on averageWeek of May 11: 0.7 sap days on averageWeek of May 18: 0.3 sap days on averageWeek of May 25: 0.1 sap days on averageDecJanFebMarAprMaytaps in ~Mar 23
Average number of freeze-thaw sap days in each week of the season at Phillips, 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 20; the middle half of seasons fell between Mar 12 and Mar 27. Earliest Feb 14 (2012), latest Apr 4 (1996).
Closing signal
Median Apr 23; middle half between Apr 14 and Apr 28. Earliest Mar 12 (2012), latest May 7 (1996).
Sap days by month
Dec9%Jan4%Feb12%Mar33%Apr35%May7%

36 seasons of sap weather

Price County seasons, 1991–2026

The best sap year at Phillips was 2024 with 53 freeze-thaw days; the leanest was 2001 with 23. 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 12 – Apr 12, 39 sap days3920252025: Mar 23 – Apr 26, 45 sap days4520242024: Mar 12 – Apr 15, 53 sap days5320232023: Mar 30 – May 3, 29 sap days2920222022: Apr 2 – May 4, 33 sap days3320212021: Mar 4 – Apr 4, 44 sap days4420202020: Mar 28 – Apr 27, 46 sap days4620192019: Mar 29 – May 3, 35 sap days3520182018: Apr 1 – Apr 30, 42 sap days4220172017: Mar 10 – Apr 13, 34 sap days3420162016: Mar 15 – Apr 14, 29 sap days2920152015: Mar 13 – Apr 15, 33 sap days3320142014: Apr 2 – Apr 26, 24 sap days2420132013: Apr 1 – May 4, 27 sap days2720122012: Feb 14 – Mar 12, 38 sap days3820112011: Mar 21 – Apr 25, 36 sap days3620102010: Mar 2 – Mar 30, 35 sap days3520092009: Mar 19 – Apr 22, 36 sap days3620082008: Mar 27 – May 1, 31 sap days3120072007: Mar 13 – Apr 17, 30 sap days3020062006: Mar 12 – Apr 10, 26 sap days2620052005: Mar 6 – Apr 4, 34 sap days3420042004: Mar 20 – Apr 23, 40 sap days4020032003: Mar 26 – Apr 18, 28 sap days2820022002: Mar 22 – Apr 26, 46 sap days4620012001: Mar 20 – Apr 24, 23 sap days2320002000: Feb 27 – Apr 1, 38 sap days3819991999: Mar 11 – Apr 14, 42 sap days4219981998: Mar 7 – Apr 11, 37 sap days3719971997: Mar 24 – Apr 26, 36 sap days3619961996: Apr 4 – May 7, 33 sap days3319951995: Mar 25 – Apr 29, 42 sap days4219941994: Mar 20 – Apr 22, 41 sap days4119931993: Mar 27 – Apr 27, 38 sap days3819921992: Mar 28 – Apr 29, 32 sap days3219911991: Mar 14 – Apr 17, 45 sap days45
Each bar runs from the season's opening signal to its closing signal, estimated from daily temperatures at Phillips. Dashed lines mark the typical dates. The right column counts freeze-thaw sap days from December through May.

Maple production

Price County in the Census of Agriculture

USDA counts maple operations every five years. In Price County the 2022 Census found 24 farms making syrup (-11% since 2017), with taps +163% and syrup output +309% over the same five years. That works out to about 0.41 gallons of syrup per tap in 2022 (0.26 in 2017). Among the 385 counties in this atlas, Price County ranks 36 by taps.

Price County maple production, 2017 and 2022 (USDA Census of Agriculture)
Census yearFarmsTapsGallons of syrupGal / tap
20222480,59433,0410.41
20172730,6198,0690.26

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 Phillips (1,476ft), 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

Price County sugaring questions

When should I tap maple trees in Price County, Wisconsin?
In a typical year the sap starts running around March 23 near Phillips and the season winds down around April 20. 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 14 and as late as Apr 4.
How much maple syrup does Price County produce?
The 2022 Census of Agriculture counted 24 maple operations in Price County with 80,594 taps producing 33,041 gallons of syrup, ranking 5 of 60 Wisconsin's counties with published tap counts.
How many sap days does Price County get in a season?
On average 36.1 freeze-thaw sap days from December through May at Phillips, of which about 7.3 are textbook days with a night in the 20s and a day in the 40s. The best season since 1991 was 2024 (53 sap days); the leanest was 2001 (23).
Where do these dates come from?
From 36 seasons of daily high and low temperatures at Phillips (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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