2025 Maple Season Recap: A Heat Wave, a Comeback, and a Satisfying Finish

Every Season Tells a Story

Continuing our annual tradition, we’re taking a mid-summer moment to look back on the 2025 maple sugaring season and share the story with you, our esteemed readers, customers, and fellow maple enthusiasts. Each season brings its own personality, shaped by weather, timing, and the natural rhythm of the trees. While we often say no two sugaring seasons are alike, 2025 came surprisingly close to following the pattern we saw in 2024 — though with a few key twists that made it uniquely its own.

From a delayed start to a mid-March heat wave that had us nervously remembering 2012, to a satisfying return to cooler conditions and a strong finish, this year had plenty of moments worth sharing. In the end, we were very satisfied — with the quality, the quantity, and the steady, smooth pace of the season. Here's how it all unfolded.

A Cold Winter and a Delayed Start

As winter settled over the Champlain Valley, one thing stood out right away — it was cold. We didn’t experience the kind of frequent warm spells or heavy midwinter thaws that often lead to early snowmelt. Instead, snow stuck around, and we entered spring with solid ground coverage — what we fondly call sugar snow. This blanket of snow acts as a water reservoir for freeze-thaw cycles, providing moisture for the maple trees to draw from their roots to produce sap. For sugarmakers, it’s an encouraging sign.

That cold, however, pushed the season’s start back later than usual. Our first boil of 2025 didn’t happen until February 26th, nearly two weeks behind both 2023 and 2024. In the past eight years, only 2020 started as late — and interestingly, that was one of our best years ever. So, while the delay had us watching the skies and the thermometer closely, we held out hope that a strong season was still possible.

The March Heat Wave and a Close Call

Things took a sharp turn in mid-March, when a string of unusually warm days settled in between March 13th and 21st. We were immediately reminded again of 2012, a year every sugarmaker remembers for the wrong reasons — when prolonged warmth ended the season early and left us with just a third of our usual production of maple syrup. That memory weighed heavily.

We track Accumulated Growing Degree Days (AGDD) using a 32°F base, and in the days leading up to the warm snap, we had accumulated only about 40 AGDDs. But by the end of that week, we’d jumped to 150–160 AGDDs — a dramatic rise in a short time. Typically, most of our seasons end at 325-350 AGDDs, so stacking them up quickly in such a short period of time is dangerous! This is where late starts get risky: when cold holds on too long, and then suddenly breaks warm, we lose those gradual early runs and face the chance of the season ending before it really begins.

It’s no surprise most sugarmakers would choose a gradual warmup any day — it’s better for nerves and better for the maple syrup. Fortunately, 2025 wasn’t 2012. The warm spell broke, and we transitioned into a stretch of nearly ideal sugaring conditions. Cold nights returned, the trees stayed healthy, and sap continued to flow. A disaster was averted, and the best of the season was still to come.

Maple Production Stats

*2021 was the year we added the new efficient reverse osmosis system.

Dark Syrup and a Smooth Finish

Looking back and once things returned to "normal", it’s clear that 2025 followed a pattern remarkably similar to 2024's maple syrup season. Once again, we saw an early warm snap followed by weeks of favorable weather — and also like 2024, that warm snap marked a turning point in syrup color. From that point on, we made a lot of Dark Robust Taste maple syrup.

In the early days of the season, we were predicting a banner year for Golden Delicate and Amber Rich Taste maple syrup. The cold winter and late start had us hoping for a long stretch of light maple syrup — and in those early boils, we were much satisfied with what ran off the pan. But weather is king in sugaring, and despite the season’s smoothness, the window for light syrup closed quickly.

That said, we’re not disappointed. While the bulk of our syrup skewed darker, the quality was excellent. The cold nights after the heat wave kept sap quality high, bacterial growth low, and we were able to produce beautiful syrup from start to finish. And we still made enough Golden and Amber to offer a full spectrum of grades for our customers.

Final Thoughts: Gratitude, Upgrades, and Looking Ahead

One of the greatest successes of the 2025 season wasn’t just the syrup — it was the team. We worked together smoothly, adapting to the season’s rhythm with only minor tremors caused by the usual culprits: too little sleep and too much caffeine. But around here, we call that a win. When the weather cooperates, the sap runs steady, and the production lands at or above average, you won’t hear any complaints from us.

Looking forward, we’re continuing to make incremental improvements to the operation. This year, we’re upgrading more of our pump houses with larger stainless steel tanks and new sensors that help us stay ahead of vacuum leaks — the kinds caused by falling limbs and occasionally curious wildlife. Levon is leading that charge, and his work has steadily increased our efficiency each year, helping us focus on what really matters when the season hits its peak.

We’d love to hear what your sugaring season was like, or what weather trends you noticed in your own backyard. Whether you're another sugarmaker or just a fan of maple syrup, your thoughts help shape the story we tell year after year. And of course, if your syrup shelf is looking a little empty, we invite you to refill your coffers in 2025 — whether it's with us or your favorite local producer. Thanks for following along.

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