I pretty much agree with the others. However, in your area, I would not discount the possibility that it could very well get low enough moisture to burn by perhaps February or March. Even in winter, red maple can dry really fast. We've found it to be one of the quickest or perhaps the very quickest drying woods we have in these parts. I know for a fact we've burned it in 6 months and it was super dry already then, but, it was not in the winter. It was cut in the spring and burned in the fall or early winter.
Dry air will suck moisture out of everything from fine instruments to lips, knuckles and will cause nose bleeds. My freezer burnt meat looks real dry although Ive never stuck it with a mm! My husky lifts her paws when she walks around on dry snow when its cold, cold, cold. Wood will lose moisture content in cold weather.
If someone has the time and ambition, covering the wood on a rainy day, and removing the cover on a dry day seems ideal. Regardless of temperature, sun and airflow on a dry day are beneficial. I built my wood lean too storage area such that the west winds flow through it. I will button up in a month or so, but still have a fair amount of air flow. I am done with tarps and plywood. it worked, but when there was 4 feet of snow on top or a bunch of ice it as a major pain.
My experience has been that wood dries almost as fast in the winter, if kept under cover, as it does in the summer. The dry winter air helps a lot.
I have money that says I can dry wood much faster in the summer then winter. Heat drives the moisture to the surface and wind takes it away. A ton of info on the net about drying wood which agrees with what I have found over the years, below freezing the drying process really slows down. "As a rough rule of thumb, for every 20 degrees F hotter, the wood will dry twice as fast. "
