Canada 
In numbers.
61m³/s
Average flow
estimate
Jun–Aug
Best months
119m
Elevation
The water at Kattimannap Qurlua, month by month
It roars from June to August.
The fullest months: from June to August, with the snowmelt. The thinnest: from October to April. Below −4 °C on average (from October to April): the falls can partly freeze.
- 19 m³/sJan
- 19 m³/sFeb
- 22 m³/sMar
- 30 m³/sApr
- 73 m³/sMay
- 119 m³/sJun
- 119 m³/sJul
- 98 m³/sAug
- 60 m³/sSep
- 44 m³/sOct
- 27 m³/sNov
- 22 m³/sDec
From about 19 m³/s in the lowest month to 119 m³/s in the highest. Best months to go, with plenty of water and pleasant days: from June to August.
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.
- Cambridge Bay Airport (YCB)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 270 km in a straight lineCar hire at YZF airport (Yellowknife)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- From June to Augustbest 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 80 m in 3.6 km. Here the river runs about 52 m below the lower rim of its valley.
What is around.
- —viewpoints
- —waymarked walking routes
- —car parks
- —swimming spots
- —picnic sites
- —toilets
- —information boards and visitor centres
- —bus stops within 1 km
- —other named waterfalls within 4 kmWilberforce Falls
- —caves
- —campsites
- —hotels, B&Bs and huts within 6 km
- —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).
Weather
The weather, month by month.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Afternoon °C | -25 | -24 | -18 | -9 | 0 | 10 | 15 | 12 | 4 | -6 | -18 | -23 |
| Night °C | -31 | -31 | -26 | -17 | -7 | 3 | 7 | 5 | -1 | -11 | -24 | -29 |
| Rain & snow (mm) | 15 | 13 | 19 | 26 | 40 | 73 | 68 | 73 | 50 | 39 | 22 | 18 |
| Wet days | 4 | 3 | 5 | 7 | 10 | 14 | 14 | 14 | 12 | 11 | 6 | 5 |
| Sun h/day | 0.9 | 3.5 | 8.3 | 12.8 | 13.6 | 10.3 | 9.3 | 6.0 | 3.3 | 0.9 | 0.8 | 0.2 |
| Snow on the ground (cm) | 42 | 47 | 51 | 52 | 31 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 12 | 21 | 31 | 37 |
Long-term averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, with temperatures carried to the height of the falls (119 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 | 84% | 94% | 70% | 59% | 116% | 54% | 221% | 115% | 125% | 180% | 40% | 110% |
| 2021 | 84% | 89% | 118% | 97% | 89% | 106% | 88% | 108% | 159% | 158% | 72% | 62% |
| 2022 | 88% | 69% | 107% | 76% | 105% | 78% | 92% | 77% | 215% | 222% | 113% | 97% |
| 2023 | 108% | 63% | 51% | 88% | 166% | 69% | 40% | 123% | 163% | 164% | 165% | 186% |
| 2024 | 59% | 174% | 64% | 55% | 52% | 53% | 81% | 94% | 88% | 113% | 160% | 162% |
| 2025 | 116% | 92% | 103% | 85% | 57% | 155% | 105% | 66% | 126% | 102% | 184% | 43% |
130% wetter than usual 70% drier than usual
About these numbers
| Names, height, width, river | Wikidata (Q37269) · 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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