MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – If you’re getting tired of waiting for spring, so are the people who tap maple syrup.

The syrup season is getting a late start this year, by about a few weeks in some parts of Minnesota and western Wisconsin.

Maple trees need a cycle of freezing and thawing to produce the sap needed to make syrup.

Syrup producers are hoping for a gradual spring warm-up, instead of a sudden jump into higher temperatures, which can put a quick stop to the season.

“The trees bud out really fast, and it starts making off-tasting syrup,” Eric Meyer said. “So you pretty much have to end when the sap starts getting bad.”

Meyer says he’s not worried yet. But last year’s weather only allowed for a short syrup season.

Trees budded early in above-average March temperatures.