Balmy spring shortens maple syrup season for some

[March 25, 2010]  MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) -- Spring has sprung in northern New England -- and that's bad news for maple syrup makers, who say warm weather is stunting sugaring season in some places.

"The weather affects every single season in a different way," said Peter Thomson, president of the New Hampshire Maple Producers Association. "Each season has its own personality. I don't know where they got the personality this year, but it's not cooperating."

The season in Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine typically begins in late February and extends into late March or early April, with maple trees yielding their sweet, clear sap as daytime temperatures rise into the 40s and then plunge back down into the 20s after dark.

"We just didn't get that this year," said Greg Hanson, a National Weather Service meteorologist. "The daytime temperatures were normal or a little above, but what's happened is that the nighttime lows haven't cooled down as much."

Last year, the nation's sugar makers produced 2.3 million gallons, an all-time high. Vermont is by far the biggest producer, with 920,000 gallons in 2009.

But this year, maple production has been spotty in places.

While much of the Northeast was coping with massive snowfalls, upper New England was enjoying one of the mildest winters in recent memory. February and March have been particularly warm, with average temperatures above normal every day this month -- sometimes by double digits.

Catherine Stevens, marketing director for the Vermont Maple Sugar Makers Association, says a handful of sugar makers in southern Vermont have reported shortened seasons because of the weather, but that the northern part of the state -- where the bulk of Vermont's maple syrup crop comes from -- apparently hasn't suffered, with some producers expecting a full crop.

"I've heard no cries of doom and gloom from Franklin or Orleans or Caledonia (counties)," she said. "It's too soon to throw our hands up," said Stevens.

She says it will be three weeks before the annual crop can be accurately measured and the warm weather's impact fully known.

"It's not going to be a banner year for everyone, that's for sure," she said.

Dave Mance, 60, of Shaftsbury, who puts out 2,500 taps each year, was expecting to bottle about 750 gallons this year. So far, he has only about 375. His trees haven't yielded sap in 1 1/2 weeks, he said.

"Not many people are smiling down here right now," he said. "I know of two and there's probably more people in my neighborhood who've already thrown in the towel and picked up their buckets and tubing," he said.

The timing isn't good.

This weekend, maple sugar makers in all three states will swing open their doors for annual open houses in which members of the public are encouraged to stop in, watch sap being boiled and talk to sugar makers.

Only problem is, some places have no sap.

That could make for an awkward void on Maine Maple Sunday, the day sugarhouses open to visitors with demonstrations of how maple syrup is made.

Instead, Collin Neil, of Day Mountain Maple Products, in Farmington, Maine, will demonstrate how he flushes water through his system to get that last little bit of sap, which is transformed into syrup.

"The season was early enough that we're about done boiling for the year," he said. "I know some places that pulled their taps already."

[Associated Press; By JOHN CURRAN]

Associated Press writer Lisa Rathke in Montpelier and David Sharp in Portland, Maine, contributed to this report.

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