This Year's Spring Weather Made Vermont's Annual Maple Sugar Harvest Suck

A truck collects maple sap gathered in St. Albans, Vermont
this past March 21.  The sugaring season was lackluster
due mostly to early bouts of unseasonably warm weather.

The recent bout of winter weather in Vermont notwithstanding, a very warm, very early spring really screwed up our all-important maple sugaring season. 

Most maple producers only made 40 to 70 percent of their average crop during this year's season, according to the Associated Press, sourcing from the Burlington Free Press

A much-too-premature bout of 70 degree weather in March plus low sugar content in the maple sap are to blame for the lackluster yield.   

Vermont's maple sugar harvest usually runs from late February into April. Record warmth from March 23 to 26 brought a premature ending to season, especially for producers in the warmer valleys of the Green Mountain State. 

In northeastern Vermont and in some higher elevations, where the sugaring season often lasts well into April, a long spell of more record and near record warmth between April 8 and 14 put the kibosh on the season. 

Though yields were down this year, it doesn't look like there will be a maple supply shortage. The Vermont Maple Sugar Makers' Association says one off year won't mess up supplies.  If we have several bad years in a row, then it becomes a problem.

Vermont is by far the nation's leading maple producer.  We normally produce about 2 million gallons of syrup, which makes up more than half of all U.S. production. 

Climate change is disrupting and altering Vermont's famed sugaring season. The Proctor Maple Research Center says sugaring season starts 8.3 days earlier and ends 11.6 days earlier than it did five decades ago. 

The season also tends to end earlier than it once did.  Though there have been some great maple yields in recent years, there have been a disturbing recent few years, like this one, in which erratic weather disrupted the season. 

Sap! Vermont Maple Sugar Makers To See A Great Run

An enthusiastic maple sugar tanker truck collects sap
at some taps in St. Albans, Vermont last March.  A big
Vermont sap run should start today with very favorable
weather this week.

 A warmish spell in late February got an early jump on sap runs for some Vermont maple sugar producers before a wintry first week of March shut things down temporarily.  

Starting today, though, maple sugarers should expect to be very, very busy.  They won't be sleeping much until this weekend. 

The warm spell coming in is sure to create some great runs. The sap runs best with freezing nights and daytime temperatures well into the 40s, perhaps low 50s.

True, after tonight, temperatures across most of Vermont will stay continuously above freezing from Wednesday morning until Friday night, but that's not long enough to put a big wrench into production.

It's also true that daytime readings in some parts of Vermont will get into the 50s to possibly near 60 in some spots, but that's OK too. The heat wave won't last long enough to harm this year's sap run. Plus, there is some refrigeration for the trees going on with the snow cover to help keep things under control.

On top of that, a hard freeze is coming this weekend, with daytime highs Sunday not even getting above 32 degrees for many of us on Sunday.  That'll help recharge the maple trees for the next sap run in the inevitable next warm up. It'll also give some maple sugar producers to catch some rest. 

Last year, Vermont produced 2.2 million gallons of maple syrup, more than half the nation's total. The value of the 2020 maple crop was right around $58 million, so you can see that's a valuable commodity. 

Let's hope this year is another good one for Vermont. It seems off to a great start!