Sweden / Norway 
In numbers.
46m
Height
OpenStreetMap
1.0m³/s
Average flow
estimate
Apr
Aug–Oct
Best months
469kW
Water power
estimate
The water at Elgåfossen, month by month
It roars from October to January.
The fullest months: from October to January.
- 1.4 m³/sJan
- 1.1 m³/sFeb
- 1.0 m³/sMar
- 1.1 m³/sApr
- 0.9 m³/sMay
- 0.7 m³/sJun
- 0.8 m³/sJul
- 1.0 m³/sAug
- 1.1 m³/sSep
- 1.5 m³/sOct
- 1.6 m³/sNov
- 1.4 m³/sDec
From about 0.71 m³/s in the lowest month to 1.6 m³/s in the highest. Best months to go, with plenty of water and pleasant days: April and from August 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.
Sweden-Norway international border waterfall
Elgåfossen is a waterfall on the Elja, in Sweden. The water falls 46 m.
Getting there.
- Tanumshedenearest town · 22 km in a straight line
- Parking 110 m awaynearest car park in OpenStreetMap, straight line
- Trollhättan-Vänersborg Airport (THN)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 79 km in a straight lineCar hire at TRF airport (Sandefjord)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- April and from August 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.
How big is it?
How big it really is.
Height of the drop as mapped in OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors). Buildings and the person are drawn at the same scale.
469 kW
About 1.0 m³/s falling 46 m: the power of the water as it drops.
- enough to power about 117 homes, if it were all turned into electricity
Power of falling water = density × gravity × flow × height. Average flow and height as shown above; an estimate.
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 47 m in 1.7 km. Here the river runs about 28 m below the lower rim of its valley.
What is around.
- —viewpoints
- 4waymarked walking routesBohusleden - Etapp 24 Vassbotten - Håvedalen, Bohusleden - Etapp 23 Nornäs - Vassbotten, Borgleden and 1 more
- 2car parks
- —swimming spots
- 10picnic sites
- 3toilets
- 1information boards and visitor centres
- 2bus stops within 1 km
- —other named waterfalls within 4 km
- —caves
- 2campsitesSvingen Camping, Bullarebygdens Familjecamping
- —hotels, B&Bs and huts within 6 km
- 2restaurants 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
- Tanumshede22 km in a straight line
- Strömstad22 km in a straight line
- Ed23 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 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 9 | 14 | 18 | 20 | 19 | 16 | 10 | 5 | 2 |
| Night °C | -3 | -4 | -1 | 3 | 8 | 12 | 14 | 14 | 10 | 6 | 2 | -2 |
| Rain & snow (mm) | 84 | 63 | 54 | 56 | 72 | 78 | 93 | 107 | 88 | 109 | 100 | 87 |
| Wet days | 14 | 12 | 11 | 10 | 11 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 13 | 16 | 15 | 15 |
| Sun h/day | 0.4 | 1.8 | 4.8 | 6.6 | 8.1 | 9.3 | 8.1 | 6.6 | 5.1 | 2.5 | 0.8 | 0.3 |
| Snow on the ground (cm) | 14 | 16 | 11 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 12 |
Long-term averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, with temperatures carried to the height of the falls (58 m) at −6.5 °C per 1,000 m. Not a forecast.
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 | 115% | 191% | 153% | 50% | 46% | 123% | 121% | 31% | 91% | 140% | 111% | 175% |
| 2021 | 86% | 64% | 102% | 43% | 165% | 72% | 109% | 45% | 93% | 139% | 75% | 46% |
| 2022 | 68% | 180% | 16% | 53% | 68% | 86% | 71% | 45% | 89% | 96% | 111% | 117% |
| 2023 | 158% | 88% | 185% | 116% | 46% | 62% | 157% | 179% | 94% | 63% | 59% | 86% |
| 2024 | 118% | 197% | 129% | 133% | 78% | 125% | 152% | 127% | 95% | 56% | 61% | 107% |
| 2025 | 127% | 83% | 61% | 82% | 72% | 107% | 64% | 70% | 126% | 117% | 135% | 119% |
130% wetter than usual 70% drier than usual
Compare with the waterfalls nearby.
Elgåfossen
Sweden
- 46 mHeight
- 1.0 m³/sAverage flow
- Apr, Aug–OctBest months
About these numbers
| Names, height, width, river | Wikidata (Q9393593) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| Height of the drop | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| 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.
The family
Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers, canyons, caves or dark skies?
Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, month by month, in seven languages.
beaches
Find your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit 
lakes
Every lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Coming soonVisit 
mountains
Every summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit 
waterfalls
Every waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.You are here
islands
Every island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Visit 
rivers
Every river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.Visit 
canyons
Every canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Visit 
caves
Every cave with its real depth and length: the rock above, the temperature inside all year, and how to visit.Coming soonVisit 
dark skies
Where the night is still dark: the sky of every place, the Milky Way month by month, the Moon, eclipses and auroras.Coming soonVisit