Australia 
In numbers.
1.4m³/s
Average flow
estimate
Jan–Apr
Best months
166m
Elevation
The water at Josephine Falls, month by month
It roars from February to March.
The fullest months: from February to March. The thinnest: from June to December.
- 2.2 m³/sJan
- 3.3 m³/sFeb
- 3.6 m³/sMar
- 2.5 m³/sApr
- 1.4 m³/sMay
- 0.7 m³/sJun
- 0.5 m³/sJul
- 0.3 m³/sAug
- 0.2 m³/sSep
- 0.3 m³/sOct
- 0.5 m³/sNov
- 0.9 m³/sDec
From about 0.23 m³/s in the lowest month to 3.6 m³/s in the highest. Best months to go, with plenty of water and pleasant days: from January to April.
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.
Getting there.
- Babindanearest town · 12 km in a straight line
- Parking 670 m awaynearest car park in OpenStreetMap, straight line
- Cairns International Airport (CNS)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 63 km in a straight lineCar hire at CNS airport (Cairns)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- From January to Aprilbest 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 168 m in 2.0 km. Here the river runs about 86 m below the lower rim of its valley.
What is around.
- 3viewpointsBottom Pool, Creek View, Top Pool
- —waymarked walking routes
- 3car parks
- —swimming spots
- 2picnic sites
- 2toilets
- 1information boards and visitor centres
- —bus stops within 1 km
- —other named waterfalls within 4 km
- —caves
- 3campsitesWestern Summit Camp, Eastern Summit Camp, Big Rock Camp
- 1hotels, B&Bs and huts within 6 kmBartle Frere Bed & Breakfast
- —restaurants 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
- Babinda12 km in a straight line
- Innisfail20 km in a straight line
- East Innisfail21 km in a straight line
- Innisfail Estate22 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 | 30 | 30 | 28 | 27 | 25 | 24 | 24 | 25 | 28 | 30 | 31 | 32 |
| Night °C | 23 | 23 | 22 | 21 | 18 | 17 | 16 | 16 | 17 | 19 | 21 | 22 |
| Rain & snow (mm) | 328 | 377 | 365 | 194 | 113 | 66 | 60 | 34 | 33 | 63 | 89 | 166 |
| Wet days | 23 | 23 | 22 | 20 | 16 | 11 | 10 | 9 | 7 | 9 | 12 | 18 |
| Sun h/day | 6.9 | 6.6 | 6.3 | 6.6 | 6.4 | 6.1 | 6.8 | 7.9 | 9.1 | 9.3 | 9.1 | 8.4 |
Long-term averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, with temperatures carried to the height of the falls (166 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 | 74% | 56% | 27% | 25% | 73% | 31% | 33% | 17% | 86% | 5% | 29% | 87% |
| 2021 | 125% | 61% | 48% | 168% | 32% | 62% | 40% | 96% | 41% | 9% | 85% | 62% |
| 2022 | 85% | 27% | 61% | 135% | 89% | 31% | 119% | 47% | 47% | 99% | 93% | 119% |
| 2023 | 100% | 79% | 62% | 38% | 21% | 46% | 109% | 124% | 81% | 27% | 7% | 221% |
| 2024 | 72% | 59% | 102% | 80% | 52% | 19% | 49% | 89% | 45% | 24% | 31% | 177% |
| 2025 | 70% | 83% | 97% | 22% | 48% | 14% | 16% | 22% | 286% | 71% | 51% | 151% |
130% wetter than usual 70% drier than usual
Compare with the waterfalls nearby.
Josephine Falls
Australia
- —Height
- 1.4 m³/sAverage flow
- Jan–AprBest months
About these numbers
| Names, height, width, river | Wikidata (Q38572) · 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.
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