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Wisconsin · county maple atlas

Maple sugaring in Rusk County, Wisconsin

Rusk County had 17 maple operations and 10,697 taps in the 2022 Census. Around Ladysmith, sap usually runs from March 18 to April 13. Here's the long-run pattern, 36 seasons of sap weather, and the outlook this week.
Too early to tapAbout 163 days until the usual start.
Sap starts
Mar 18
typical year
Season ends
Apr 13
about 4 weeks
Sap days / season
39
1991–2026 average
Taps, 2022
10,697
#18 of 60 in WI

Sap-flow outlook at Ladysmith right now

Full Wisconsin forecast →

Forecast for Ladysmith, WI

Updated Oct 6, 6:44 AM EDT

Off-season for now. Sap needs freezing nights, and none are in sight. Rusk County's season usually opens around March 18, which is 163 days away.

No freeze-thaw days in the forecast

freeze thaw 32°F

  1. WedOct 7
    45° / 70°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  2. ThuOct 8
    41° / 64°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  3. FriOct 9
    38° / 66°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  4. SatOct 10
    48° / 75°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  5. SunOct 11
    57° / 73°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  6. MonOct 12
    51° / 60°
    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 Ladysmith

Freeze-thaw weather at Ladysmith peaks in the weeks of Mar 2 to Apr 20, which hold about 63% of a season's sap days. March is the busiest month.
Typical season: Mar 18 – Apr 130246Week of Dec 1: 1.1 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 8: 1.3 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 15: 0.8 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 22: 0.7 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 29: 0.5 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 5: 0.7 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 12: 0.3 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 19: 0.3 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 26: 0.7 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 2: 1.1 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 9: 1.1 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 16: 1.6 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 23: 1.6 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 2: 2.5 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 9: 2.9 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 16: 3.4 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 23: 3.7 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 30: 3.6 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 6: 3.5 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 13: 2.5 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 20: 2.6 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 27: 1.4 sap days on averageWeek of May 4: 0.6 sap days on averageWeek of May 11: 0.5 sap days on averageWeek of May 18: 0.2 sap days on averageWeek of May 25: 0.0 sap days on averageDecJanFebMarAprMaytaps in ~Mar 18
Average number of freeze-thaw sap days in each week of the season at Ladysmith, 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 15; the middle half of seasons fell between Mar 9 and Mar 23. Earliest Feb 15 (2012), latest Apr 2 (2013).
Closing signal
Median Apr 16; middle half between Apr 10 and Apr 25. Earliest Mar 11 (2012), latest May 4 (2013).
Sap days by month
Dec10%Jan5%Feb14%Mar36%Apr31%May4%

36 seasons of sap weather

Rusk County seasons, 1991–2026

The best sap year at Ladysmith was 2024 with 59 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 11 – Apr 12, 38 sap days3820252025: Mar 18 – Apr 21, 49 sap days4920242024: Mar 10 – Apr 14, 59 sap days5920232023: Mar 28 – Apr 27, 36 sap days3620222022: Mar 30 – May 4, 36 sap days3620212021: Mar 3 – Apr 4, 53 sap days5320202020: Mar 24 – Apr 27, 47 sap days4720192019: Mar 22 – Apr 20, 39 sap days3920182018: Mar 31 – Apr 30, 56 sap days5620172017: Mar 4 – Apr 8, 40 sap days4020162016: Mar 12 – Apr 14, 40 sap days4020152015: Mar 9 – Apr 11, 33 sap days3320142014: Mar 29 – Apr 26, 29 sap days2920132013: Apr 2 – May 4, 29 sap days2920122012: Feb 15 – Mar 11, 39 sap days3920112011: Mar 19 – Apr 22, 41 sap days4120102010: Feb 25 – Mar 30, 37 sap days3720092009: Mar 14 – Apr 16, 38 sap days3820082008: Mar 21 – Apr 16, 33 sap days3320072007: Mar 11 – Apr 15, 35 sap days3520062006: Mar 10 – Apr 9, 27 sap days2720052005: Mar 5 – Apr 3, 35 sap days3520042004: Mar 15 – Apr 15, 46 sap days4620032003: Mar 11 – Apr 10, 29 sap days2920022002: Mar 14 – Apr 13, 48 sap days4820012001: Mar 19 – Apr 19, 23 sap days2320002000: Feb 23 – Mar 30, 39 sap days3919991999: Mar 8 – Mar 30, 40 sap days4019981998: Mar 3 – Apr 5, 31 sap days3119971997: Mar 21 – Apr 25, 36 sap days3619961996: Mar 29 – May 3, 41 sap days4119951995: Mar 18 – Apr 22, 36 sap days3619941994: Mar 17 – Apr 21, 42 sap days4219931993: Mar 25 – Apr 27, 41 sap days4119921992: Mar 26 – Apr 29, 39 sap days3919911991: Mar 6 – Apr 10, 45 sap days45
Each bar runs from the season's opening signal to its closing signal, estimated from daily temperatures at Ladysmith. Dashed lines mark the typical dates. The right column counts freeze-thaw sap days from December through May.

Maple production

Rusk County in the Census of Agriculture

USDA counts maple operations every five years. In Rusk County the 2022 Census found 17 farms making syrup (0% since 2017), with taps +12% and syrup output +163% over the same five years. That works out to about 0.27 gallons of syrup per tap in 2022 (0.11 in 2017). Among the 385 counties in this atlas, Rusk County ranks 131 by taps.

Rusk County maple production, 2017 and 2022 (USDA Census of Agriculture)
Census yearFarmsTapsGallons of syrupGal / tap
20221710,6972,8400.27
2017179,5331,0780.11

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 Ladysmith (1,129ft), 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

Rusk County sugaring questions

When should I tap maple trees in Rusk County, Wisconsin?
In a typical year the sap starts running around March 18 near Ladysmith and the season winds down around April 13. 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 15 and as late as Apr 2.
How much maple syrup does Rusk County produce?
The 2022 Census of Agriculture counted 17 maple operations in Rusk County with 10,697 taps producing 2,840 gallons of syrup, ranking 18 of 60 Wisconsin's counties with published tap counts.
How many sap days does Rusk County get in a season?
On average 39 freeze-thaw sap days from December through May at Ladysmith, of which about 9.1 are textbook days with a night in the 20s and a day in the 40s. The best season since 1991 was 2024 (59 sap days); the leanest was 2001 (23).
Where do these dates come from?
From 36 seasons of daily high and low temperatures at Ladysmith (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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