When to tap maple trees in Pennsylvania
Maple season in Pennsylvania usually opens late February and winds down late March. Here's the long-run pattern, the year-by-year record, and what the forecast says right now.
- Opens
- February 25
- Closes
- March 28
- Recent openings ranged
- Feb 11 – Mar 10 (2011–2022)
- Typical length
- About 32 days
Forecast for Meyersdale
Updated Sep 26, 8:05 AM EDT
It's the off-season. Sap needs freezing nights, and there are none in sight. Pennsylvania's season usually opens around February 25 — 152 days from now.
No freeze-thaw days in the forecast
Blue = below 32°F · Amber = thaw · dashed line = freezing
- SunSep 27No freeze, no run60°high50°low0h frozen
24h thawed - MonSep 28No freeze, no run62°high53°low0h frozen
24h thawed - TueSep 29No freeze, no run68°high54°low0h frozen
24h thawed - WedSep 30No freeze, no run72°high53°low0h frozen
24h thawed - ThuOct 1No freeze, no run72°high57°low0h frozen
24h thawed - FriOct 2No freeze, no run70°high58°low0h frozen
21h thawed
Data: National Weather Service. Verdicts use freeze-thaw thresholds from maple field research; your woods may run a little differently.
Sap runs on a temperature swing, not a date. A night below freezing loads the tree; a day above freezing pushes sap out of the taphole. Field research treats a low under about 30°F followed by a high over about 37°F as a real freeze-thaw day, and big runs almost always come on days like that.
So watch the 10-day forecast. When you see a string of nights in the 20s and afternoons in the 40s, get your taps in a day or two ahead. Tap south-facing slopes first — they warm and run earlier.
Dates are USDA NASS approximate state averages. Penn State agrees: mid-February to early March normally brings the right conditions, and the season runs until early April most years.
Seasons are shifting. In New England and New York, the sugaring season now begins about 8 days earlier and ends about 11 days earlier than it did 40 years earlier, leaving it roughly 3 days (about 10%) shorter, according to UVM Proctor Maple Research Center survey records analyzed in 2007.
Plan your season
Sources
- USDA NASS — Maple Syrup Production — news release, June 2013 (average open/close dates 2011–2013) — USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service (mirrored by the University of Vermont)
- USDA NASS — Maple Syrup Production — news release, June 2014 (average open/close dates 2012–2014) — USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service (mirrored by the University of Vermont)
- USDA NASS — United States Maple Syrup Production, June 11, 2015 (average open/close dates 2013–2015) — USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service (mirrored by the University of Vermont)
- USDA NASS — United States Maple Syrup Production, June 15, 2016 (average open/close dates 2014–2016) — USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service (mirrored by the University of Vermont)
- USDA NASS — United States Maple Syrup Production, June 14, 2017 (average open/close dates 2015–2017) — USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service (mirrored by the University of Vermont)
- USDA NASS — United States Maple Syrup Production, June 13, 2018 (average open/close dates 2016–2018) — USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service (mirrored by the University of Vermont)
- USDA NASS — United States Maple Syrup Production, June 12, 2019 (average open/close dates 2017–2019) — USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service (mirrored by the University of Vermont)
- USDA NASS — Crop Production, June 2020 — maple syrup tables (average open/close dates 2018–2020) — USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service (mirrored by the University of Vermont)
- USDA NASS — Crop Production, June 2021 — maple syrup tables (average open/close dates 2019–2021) — USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service (mirrored by the University of Vermont)
- USDA NASS — Crop Production, June 2022 — maple syrup tables (average open/close dates 2020–2022) — USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service (mirrored by the University of Vermont)
- USDA NASS — Crop Production, June 2023 — maple syrup tables (average open/close dates 2021–2022; discontinued 2023) — USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service (mirrored by the University of Vermont)
- Pennsylvania: It's time to make maple syrup — Penn State University
- USDA 2022 Census of Agriculture, County Data — Table 37. Maple Syrup: 2022 and 2017 (Pennsylvania) — USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service
- Statement of Timothy D. Perkins, Ph.D., Director, UVM Proctor Maple Research Center — Global Warming Mountaintop 'Summit': Economic Impacts on New England (June 4, 2007) — U.S. House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming
Common questions
- When is maple syrup season in Pennsylvania?
- Usually from late February to late March — about 5 weeks. The exact start moves by weeks from year to year with the weather.
- When should I tap my trees in Pennsylvania?
- Tap just before the first good run: when the forecast shows nights below freezing and days climbing to around 40°F. In a typical year that's around February 25. Tapholes dry up within 6 to 10 weeks, so tapping far too early can cost you the late runs.
- What weather makes sap run?
- Freezing nights and thawing days. Field research counts a freeze-thaw day as a low under about 30°F and a high over about 37°F; nights in the 20s and days in the 40s are the classic sap days.
Get a heads-up when Pennsylvania's sap will run
LuckySap checks the forecast for your trees and can ping you the night before a strong sap day — then keeps every collection and boil in one season log. Free on iPhone.
