Mexico 
In numbers.
2.5m³/s
Average flow
estimate
Jul–Oct
Best months
2,040m
Elevation
The water at Basaltic Prisms of Santa María Regla, month by month
It roars from August to October.
The fullest months: from August to October. The thinnest: from December to May.
- 0.5 m³/sJan
- 0.4 m³/sFeb
- 0.5 m³/sMar
- 0.6 m³/sApr
- 1.0 m³/sMay
- 3.5 m³/sJun
- 5.0 m³/sJul
- 5.8 m³/sAug
- 7.1 m³/sSep
- 5.4 m³/sOct
- 2.7 m³/sNov
- 1.0 m³/sDec
From about 0.39 m³/s in the lowest month to 7.1 m³/s in the highest. Best months to go, with plenty of water and pleasant days: from July to October.
Estimate: the timing comes from rain, snowmelt and evaporation (NASA POWER, 1991–2020); the amounts from the river model of HydroATLAS (WaterGAP, 1971–2000). Dams upstream can change the real flow.
Interlocking basalt columns in Hidalgo, Mexico
Basaltic Prisms of Santa María Regla is a waterfall in Mexico.
Getting there.
- Huasca de Ocamponearest town · 3.6 km in a straight line
- Parking 1,880 m awaynearest car park in OpenStreetMap, straight line
- Felipe Ángeles International Airport (NLU)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 72 km in a straight lineCar hire at MEX airport (Mexico City)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- From July to Octoberbest months to go (estimate)
Plan your visit
Stay, explore and get there
Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.
Seen from the sky.
8 × 8 km of cloud-free satellite image, with what OpenStreetMap knows around the falls.
N
2 km
Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 (EOX, CC BY 4.0), 8 × 8 km, north up. Points © OpenStreetMap contributors.
The line follows the river as mapped in OpenStreetMap; heights from the 30 m Copernicus model, which smooths narrow drops — the published height of the falls is the one above.
Around the falls the river drops 135 m in 1.8 km.
What is around.
- 3viewpoints
- —waymarked walking routes
- 2car parks
- —swimming spots
- —picnic sites
- —toilets
- —information boards and visitor centres
- —bus stops within 1 km
- —other named waterfalls within 4 kmPrismas Basálticos
- —caves
- 1campsitesParque Recreativo Los Leones
- 22hotels, B&Bs and huts within 6 kmHotel de la Forma, Centro Ecoturístico del Lago, La Casa Azul and 19 more
- 1restaurants and cafés within 3 km
Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit, up to 2 km around the falls (unless noted). A low number may just mean nobody has mapped it yet. © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).
Towns nearby
- Huasca de Ocampo3.6 km in a straight line
- San José Ocotillos6.1 km in a straight line
- Río Seco Puente de Doria7.0 km in a straight line
- Tlaxocoyucan7.6 km in a straight line
- San Antonio el Paso11 km in a straight line
- Omitlán de Juárez12 km in a straight line
- Atotonilco el Grande12 km in a straight line
- Carboneras14 km in a straight line
Weather
The weather, month by month.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Afternoon °C | 20 | 22 | 25 | 27 | 27 | 25 | 24 | 24 | 22 | 22 | 20 | 20 |
| Night °C | 5 | 6 | 8 | 11 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 10 | 7 | 6 |
| Rain & snow (mm) | 22 | 20 | 28 | 37 | 60 | 150 | 159 | 166 | 200 | 118 | 45 | 19 |
| Wet days | 5 | 5 | 8 | 9 | 15 | 23 | 27 | 27 | 26 | 18 | 10 | 5 |
| Sun h/day | 6.3 | 7.1 | 7.7 | 8.1 | 7.9 | 7.0 | 6.9 | 7.1 | 5.5 | 6.2 | 6.4 | 6.7 |
Long-term averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, with temperatures carried to the height of the falls (2,040 m) at −6.5 °C per 1,000 m. Not a forecast.
Photos
Through visitors' eyes.
Recent years
Wet years and dry years
Rain of each month as a share of the 1991–2020 average. A wet season above 100 % usually means a fuller waterfall.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 185% | 76% | 46% | 125% | 94% | 76% | 60% | 93% | 85% | 35% | 71% | 46% |
| 2021 | 101% | 93% | 113% | 96% | 156% | 126% | 61% | 109% | 93% | 74% | 80% | 24% |
| 2022 | 104% | 81% | 25% | 106% | 35% | 80% | 73% | 62% | 80% | 60% | 71% | 113% |
| 2023 | 45% | 37% | 118% | 203% | 85% | 8% | 67% | 83% | 21% | 96% | 126% | 248% |
| 2024 | 58% | 77% | 33% | 60% | 33% | 128% | 157% | 88% | 98% | 86% | 99% | 197% |
| 2025 | 104% | 163% | 34% | 25% | 202% | 201% | 100% | 95% | 99% | 172% | 126% | 284% |
130% wetter than usual 70% drier than usual
Compare with the waterfalls nearby.
Basaltic Prisms of Santa María Regla
Mexico
- —Height
- 2.5 m³/sAverage flow
- Jul–OctBest months
About these numbers
| Names, height, width, river | Wikidata (Q3403932) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| River flow and catchment | HydroATLAS / RiverATLAS v1.0 (Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 |
| Climate | NASA POWER, 1991–2020 |
| Relief, river profile, 3D model | Copernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA |
| Paths, viewpoints, parking | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.
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