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Wisconsin · county maple atlas

Maple sugaring in Richland County, Wisconsin

Richland County had 36 maple operations and 7,269 taps in the 2022 Census. Around Richland Center, sap usually runs from March 8 to April 2. Here's the long-run pattern, 36 seasons of sap weather, and the outlook this week.
Too early to tapAbout 153 days until the usual start.
Sap starts
Mar 8
typical year
Season ends
Apr 2
about 4 weeks
Sap days / season
45
1991–2026 average
Taps, 2022
7,269
#23 of 60 in WI

Sap-flow outlook at Richland Center right now

Full Wisconsin forecast →

Forecast for Richland Center, WI

Updated Oct 6, 9:06 AM EDT

Off-season for now. Sap needs freezing nights, and none are in sight. Richland County's season usually opens around March 8, which is 153 days away.

No freeze-thaw days in the forecast

freeze thaw 32°F

  1. WedOct 7
    51° / 73°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  2. ThuOct 8
    45° / 67°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  3. FriOct 9
    43° / 69°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  4. SatOct 10
    52° / 77°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  5. SunOct 11
    59° / 77°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  6. MonOct 12
    55° / 69°
    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 Richland Center

Freeze-thaw weather at Richland Center peaks in the weeks of Feb 23 to Apr 6, which hold about 51% of a season's sap days. March is the busiest month.
Typical season: Mar 8 – Apr 20246Week of Dec 1: 1.9 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 8: 1.8 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 15: 1.4 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 22: 1.3 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 29: 1.0 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 5: 1.5 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 12: 0.9 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 19: 0.7 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 26: 1.3 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 2: 1.4 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 9: 1.5 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 16: 2.3 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 23: 2.5 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 2: 2.8 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 9: 3.4 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 16: 3.8 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 23: 4.0 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 30: 3.5 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 6: 2.9 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 13: 2.0 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 20: 1.7 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 27: 0.8 sap days on averageWeek of May 4: 0.4 sap days on averageWeek of May 11: 0.3 sap days on averageWeek of May 18: 0.0 sap days on averageWeek of May 25: 0.0 sap days on averageDecJanFebMarAprMaytaps in ~Mar 8
Average number of freeze-thaw sap days in each week of the season at Richland Center, 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 5; the middle half of seasons fell between Feb 26 and Mar 9. Earliest Feb 8 (2024), latest Mar 23 (2013).
Closing signal
Median Apr 5; middle half between Mar 29 and Apr 10. Earliest Mar 11 (2012), latest Apr 24 (2013).
Sap days by month
Dec15%Jan10%Feb17%Mar34%Apr21%May2%

36 seasons of sap weather

Richland County seasons, 1991–2026

The best sap year at Richland Center was 2024 with 65 freeze-thaw days; the leanest was 2010 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: Feb 18 – Mar 24, 51 sap days5120252025: Feb 21 – Mar 27, 56 sap days5620242024: Feb 8 – Mar 15, 65 sap days6520232023: Mar 8 – Apr 8, 51 sap days5120222022: Mar 16 – Apr 20, 49 sap days4920212021: Feb 28 – Apr 3, 48 sap days4820202020: Mar 4 – Apr 7, 57 sap days5720192019: Mar 5 – Apr 4, 41 sap days4120182018: Mar 23 – Apr 23, 61 sap days6120172017: Feb 21 – Mar 23, 30 sap days3020162016: Feb 18 – Mar 23, 38 sap days3820152015: Mar 7 – Apr 4, 31 sap days3120142014: Mar 17 – Apr 19, 31 sap days3120132013: Mar 23 – Apr 24, 42 sap days4220122012: Feb 12 – Mar 11, 49 sap days4920112011: Mar 8 – Apr 5, 32 sap days3220102010: Feb 27 – Mar 30, 26 sap days2620092009: Mar 8 – Apr 12, 48 sap days4820082008: Mar 17 – Apr 16, 29 sap days2920072007: Feb 22 – Mar 23, 42 sap days4220062006: Mar 7 – Apr 10, 52 sap days5220052005: Mar 3 – Apr 3, 43 sap days4320042004: Feb 27 – Apr 3, 45 sap days4520032003: Mar 6 – Apr 10, 45 sap days4520022002: Mar 7 – Apr 7, 62 sap days6220012001: Mar 10 – Apr 5, 37 sap days3720002000: Feb 16 – Mar 18, 50 sap days5019991999: Feb 27 – Mar 30, 50 sap days5019981998: Feb 23 – Mar 25, 37 sap days3719971997: Mar 2 – Mar 31, 45 sap days4519961996: Mar 17 – Apr 19, 56 sap days5619951995: Mar 3 – Apr 6, 38 sap days3819941994: Mar 11 – Apr 11, 53 sap days5319931993: Mar 20 – Apr 22, 36 sap days3619921992: Mar 7 – Apr 10, 51 sap days5119911991: Mar 1 – Apr 3, 43 sap days43
Each bar runs from the season's opening signal to its closing signal, estimated from daily temperatures at Richland Center. Dashed lines mark the typical dates. The right column counts freeze-thaw sap days from December through May.

Maple production

Richland County in the Census of Agriculture

USDA counts maple operations every five years. In Richland County the 2022 Census found 36 farms making syrup (+38% since 2017), with taps +13% and syrup output +45% over the same five years. That works out to about 0.30 gallons of syrup per tap in 2022 (0.23 in 2017). Among the 385 counties in this atlas, Richland County ranks 159 by taps.

Richland County maple production, 2017 and 2022 (USDA Census of Agriculture)
Census yearFarmsTapsGallons of syrupGal / tap
2022367,2692,1880.30
2017266,4141,5060.23

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 Richland Center (846ft), 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

Richland County sugaring questions

When should I tap maple trees in Richland County, Wisconsin?
In a typical year the sap starts running around March 8 near Richland Center and the season winds down around April 2. 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 8 and as late as Mar 23.
How much maple syrup does Richland County produce?
The 2022 Census of Agriculture counted 36 maple operations in Richland County with 7,269 taps producing 2,188 gallons of syrup, ranking 23 of 60 Wisconsin's counties with published tap counts.
How many sap days does Richland County get in a season?
On average 45 freeze-thaw sap days from December through May at Richland Center, of which about 11.6 are textbook days with a night in the 20s and a day in the 40s. The best season since 1991 was 2024 (65 sap days); the leanest was 2010 (26).
Where do these dates come from?
From 36 seasons of daily high and low temperatures at Richland Center (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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