Ugly 10 day!

[Daren]

Let's hope the forecast is totally off! Otherwise, those of us with reds are done after tues or wed. ran good yest and hopeful for more today. Then one more freeze sat before the ugliest forecast I've seen this early in years. WTF?

[maplwrks]

Easy Darren--The forecast has already changed for tomorrow, only going to be 36. The forecast is for lows in the low 30s at night, they only need to be off by a couple degrees to have a freezing night. We only need a freeze every couple days anyways.

[PerryW]

not sure where fletcher is, but I'm about 2/3 of the way up New Hampshire (south of St Johnsbury) and they are showing a mild freeze tonite, then three hard frezes in a row. After that it's a little warmer, but certainly not a show stopper. If it swings 5 degrees colder, it will be good sugaring weather for most of the 10 day.

[sugaringcrazy]

I am hoping and praying for a change in the long range because it's not pretty. Thankfully the weather men/women are often a little wrong, but when I read the detailed forecast and hear that there should be significant southerly breezes, I know that nothing keeps the minimum temperatures high like those! Lets cross our fingers!

[chevypower]

I too am quite concerned about the extended forcast but I'm a worry wart anyway. As you mentioned they are usually off with their forcasts.... hopefully it works out to our favor. The sap didn't run as hard as we were expecting yesterday which has me kind of stumped, the wind was blowing a little but not enough to really bother I wouldn't think?

[PerryW]

I too am quite concerned about the extended forcast but I'm a worry wart anyway. As you mentioned they are usually off with their forcasts.... hopefully it works out to our favor. The sap didn't run as hard as we were expecting yesterday which has me kind of stumped, the wind was blowing a little but not enough to really bother I wouldn't think?

Everybody's been saying the same thing. I'm hoping it's the deep frost due to less snow. It certainly seems like my cold taps haven't kicked in yet, but hopefully this 2-day warmup is just what we need. I got maybe 0.5 Gal/tap out of my 30 good running buckets. Hoping they will finish their run today and give me at least another 0.5 gpt.

[GeneralStark]

Everybody's been saying the same thing. I'm hoping it's the deep frost due to less snow. It certainly seems like my cold taps haven't kicked in yet, but hopefully this 2-day warmup is just what we need. I got maybe 0.5 Gal/tap out of my 30 good running buckets. Hoping they will finish their run today and give me at least another 0.5 gpt.

I think frost is a big factor this season. We have had minimal snow this year and my north facing woods seem to have deep frost. Some of the taps there still had ice in them yesterday at 5:30, while some of my buckets in a more SE facing area ran over 2 gpt in the last 24 hours.

Microclimates may be everything this year. Last year was good for lower elevation bushes, this year may be better for high elevation of next week's forecast is true. For me the warm weather will be good to get the frost out of the ground, but south facing may go quick.

[802maple]

Hold on to your Towels guys, it is only March 8th

[Daren]

It may only be March 8th, but the entire winter pattern has been warm and this swing of 10 degrees to the warm side is just right for popping reds. I know the weather folks are a bit off alot but as stated above, consistent south winds are tough to chill down this time of year. There is not much for frost up my way....we had an insulating snow blanket all year...still a little left, but after the near 60 degree temp and all that rain last night....much of that is gone too. It is nice and cold this morning with more cold thru sunday morning, but that is were it gets ugly. There is one night that has a 33 degree low listed which is a slight improvement as it comes close, but otherwise, all day temps in the 50's with lows in the upper 30's. I have seen spells that have scared me before that turned out ok, but this one is just more menacing than any others I can remember in the last 9 years. I hope the positive thinkers on this thread are right and we get to play thru march at least. As for where Fletcher is.....Northwestern Vermont, about 30 miles south of the canadian border and about 10 miles from Smugglers Notch Ski area between Cambridge and Fairfield.

[802maple]

I have seen this exact weather many times when all the doom and gloomers were tossing in the towel and then we made a whole seasons worth of syrup after that. I still have ahold of my towel with a firm grip. If I see this forecast in April then maybe I will get nervous, but not yet.

[steve J]

I boiled all I had on Friday which was about 100 galls made 2 gals of med amber. But I got one run on lines with about 70 taps that just is not producing. This was the hil section that got hit hard by Irene so not sure rather its stress related or what but only gotten about 20 gallons of sap from that hill. Look at that forcast today its not pretty yes there is good chance of cold late in month but there is 10 plus days of warmth there lets hope the trees don't start to bud out.

[wdchuck]

I'm not presssing the panic button just yet. The ground in my woods is frozen solid- and I'm guessing DEEP, and the night time lows have been lower than predicted. I'm guessing thats due to some microclimate thing - frozen ground means cooler air sinking into the valleys. I think we'll survive the warm spell .....whats that about cooler weather?

[Lindsey Simanskas]

Still have a foot of snow on the ground....up high on a ridge, ran some last week picked up about 50 gallons from 60 buckets on Thursday boiled today and ended up with 6 pints do a light amber.

[Larry]

To everybody's comment I would like to say, ditto ditto ditto. We're here in central Vermont and I have a little better than ninety gals in the holding tank and it's a big block of ice. Nothing ran here today, it just about made it to 32 degrees, hoping the next couple days will thaw things out and the sap will run. We still have a fair amount of snow in the woods. Good luck.

[Rossell's Sugar Camp]

Dont worry guys. Down here in PA we are only a week or two early. The We are in the extreme south of the state and still getting sap. my cousin in the mtns said his reds havent even shown buds yet. So yinz ought to have a lot of time.

[woodsguydylan]

I am worried, it looks like 70 degrees on thursday down here in southern vermont. not exactly good sugaring weather. on the optimistic side, we made 600 gallons this past thursday. on the pessimistic side, tonight is the last freeze in the foreseeable future and my whole income relies on us making a ton of syrup. i am just going to do the best i can to get sap to the sugarhouse and hope we arent making B in 3 days.

[poulu]

we are right on the Canadian border still had two feet of snow in some spots the 10 days isn't ideal hoping for the best

[sjdoyon]

We're on the Canadian/NH border and had a really good day today after several weeks of minus weather and heavy snows. Today ran good and thawed out the lines, still running tonight. Temps are supposed to get in the high 20s/low 30s at night, with our north facing slope, we think we might be ok (at least we're wishing.

Hope everyone has a busy few weeks ahead of them.

[Greyfox]

I'm in central New Hampshire with a woods that's on a north-facing slope at high elevation (for here) that's always late to start, and we just had our first real good run today. With clear skies the temp is dropping so we should get a good tight freeze tonight and another good run tomorrow. Hope the same for you. Good luck all.

Doc

[PerryW]

Only my warmer trees had a good run today. (Littleton Area) The colder trees are just starting to produce.

edit 11:26 PM - The 10 day forecasts are looking better since this afternoon. The predicted 71 degrees for next friday dropped to 61 and the 50's and 60's seem to have dropped to high 40's and 50's. Weather.com even shows a 27 deg low for wed. nite!

[Daren]

My last boil will be tonight. Saturday I will finish my sweets from the pan and start the cleanup. Forecast keeps looking bad.

[smokeyamber]

Ditto... boiling off reserves, but not collecting any more.. not running anyway. Bet the trees bud out next week 1

[Brokermike]

We're done. Boiled on Saturday and been selling my sap to the guy making grade c down the road. I'll boil her clean this weekend and get ready to move!