West Virginia sap flow forecast

The next several days for West Virginia's sugaring country, read the way a sugarmaker reads them: how cold the night gets, how warm the afternoon gets, and whether that adds up to a run. The season here usually opens early February.

Preston County has 14,655 of West Virginia's 71,699 taps (20.4%), the most of any county with published figures (2022 Census of Agriculture).

Forecast for Kingwood

Updated Sep 26, 9:16 AM EDT

It's the off-season. Sap needs freezing nights, and there are none in sight. West Virginia's season usually opens around February 4 — 131 days from now.

No freeze-thaw days in the forecast

Blue = below 32°F · Amber = thaw · dashed line = freezing

  1. SunSep 27
    62°high
    48°low
    0h frozen
    24h thawed
    No freeze, no run

    Low of 48°F — trees need a hard freeze to reload. No freeze, no run.

  2. MonSep 28
    61°high
    53°low
    0h frozen
    24h thawed
    No freeze, no run

    Low of 53°F — trees need a hard freeze to reload. No freeze, no run.

  3. TueSep 29
    67°high
    55°low
    0h frozen
    24h thawed
    No freeze, no run

    Low of 55°F — trees need a hard freeze to reload. No freeze, no run.

  4. WedSep 30
    73°high
    52°low
    0h frozen
    24h thawed
    No freeze, no run

    Low of 52°F — trees need a hard freeze to reload. No freeze, no run.

  5. ThuOct 1
    74°high
    58°low
    0h frozen
    24h thawed
    No freeze, no run

    Low of 58°F — trees need a hard freeze to reload. No freeze, no run.

  6. FriOct 2
    73°high
    60°low
    0h frozen
    21h thawed
    No freeze, no run

    Low of 60°F — trees need a hard freeze to reload. No freeze, no run.

Data: National Weather Service. Verdicts use freeze-thaw thresholds from maple field research; your woods may run a little differently.

Somewhere else in West Virginia?

Your sugarbush, your forecast

Hourly temperatures for your exact spot, turned into a day-by-day sap-run outlook. US and Canada.

Planning ahead? Typical tapping dates for West Virginia →

Data & method

  1. National Weather Service API — NOAA National Weather Service
  2. Sap flow in sugar maple: timing and weather drivers (Frontiers in Agronomy, 2025) — de Lima Santos et al.
  3. Maple Sugaring Tips for Beginners and Backyard Maple Sugar Producers — UNH Extension
  4. North American Maple Syrup Producers Manual, 2nd ed. (Bulletin 856) — The Ohio State University Extension

Never miss the first run

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