FAIRFAX, Vt. (AP) – The mild January has caused sap to run early and some Vermont maple sugar producers to tap their trees ahead of schedule.

The Ovitt family, including 90-year-old sugar maker Orman Ovitt, has already boiled 200 gallons of sap.

“Ive been sugaring all my life, and I’ve never boiled this early, never,” Orman Ovitt said Tuesday. “This is somethin’ else.”

The Ovitts are boiling six weeks earlier than last year.

The warm days followed by cold nights are ideal conditions for sugaring, and the lack of snow has made it easier to tap trees early.

“This is great sugaring weather, but it’s very unusual,” said state maple expert Henry Marckres.

A number of sugar producers have tapped trees early this year, particularly in southern Vermont.

The Ovitts starting boiling sap into syrup in their sugarhouse on Monday. Last year they produced 1,600 gallons.

Last month was the fifth warmest January on record in Burlington and fourth in St. Johnsbury, according to Mark Breen, a meteorologist at the Fairbanks Museum in St. Johnsbury. Burlington had an average temperature of 28.2 degrees and a high of 55 degrees on Jan. 14. Saint Johnsbury reached a record 56 degrees on Jan. 21 and Bennington recorded 61 on Jan. 18.

The weather is expected to change next week, with temperatures dropping below normal for several days, Breen said.

The consistent cold could stop the sap flow.

Vermont is the largest producer of maple syrup in the country. Last year the state produced 410,000 gallons, Marckres said.