Norway 
In numbers.
238m
Height
43m³/s
Average flow
estimate
May–Aug
Best months
100MW
Water power
estimate
The water at Rjukanfossen, month by month
It roars from May to June.
The fullest months: from May to June, with the snowmelt. The thinnest: from January to March. Below −4 °C on average (from December to March): the falls can partly freeze.
- 30 m³/sJan
- 13 m³/sFeb
- 32 m³/sMar
- 103 m³/sApr
- 150 m³/sMay
- 126 m³/sJun
- 109 m³/sJul
- 100 m³/sAug
- 90 m³/sSep
- 77 m³/sOct
- 65 m³/sNov
- 42 m³/sDec
From about 13 m³/s in the lowest month to 150 m³/s in the highest. Best months to go, with plenty of water and pleasant days: from May 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.
Waterfall in Tinn, Telemark, Norway
Rjukanfossen is a waterfall in Norway. The water falls 238 m.
Getting there.
- Rjukannearest town · 6.6 km in a straight line
- Parking 290 m awaynearest car park in OpenStreetMap, straight line
- Sandefjord Airport, Torp (TRF)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 126 km in a straight lineCar hire at TRF airport (Sandefjord)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- From May 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.
How big is it?
How big it really is.
Height of the drop from Wikidata. Buildings and the person are drawn at the same scale.
100 MW
About 43 m³/s falling 238 m: the power of the water as it drops.
- as much as 33 large wind turbines
- enough to power about 25,100 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 173 m in 1.8 km. Here the river runs about 233 m below the lower rim of its valley.
What is around.
- 7viewpoints
- 3waymarked walking routes
- 9car parks
- —swimming spots
- —picnic sites
- —toilets
- 15information boards and visitor centres
- 2bus stops within 1 km
- 4other named waterfalls within 4 kmKvennhusfossen, Kvitingfoss, Skardfoss and 1 more
- —caves
- 2campsitesRjukan Næringspark, Rjukan bobilparkering Såheimsveien
- 2hotels, B&Bs and huts within 6 kmRjukan Fjellstue, Rjukan Admini Hotel
- —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
- Rjukan6.6 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 | -4 | -3 | 0 | 4 | 11 | 16 | 18 | 16 | 12 | 5 | 0 | -3 |
| Night °C | -10 | -10 | -8 | -3 | 2 | 7 | 9 | 8 | 4 | -1 | -5 | -8 |
| Rain & snow (mm) | 80 | 59 | 59 | 69 | 107 | 118 | 146 | 137 | 111 | 116 | 94 | 77 |
| Wet days | 15 | 12 | 12 | 13 | 15 | 16 | 18 | 18 | 15 | 17 | 16 | 14 |
| Sun h/day | 1.1 | 2.7 | 5.6 | 7.8 | 7.0 | 7.5 | 6.7 | 5.5 | 4.3 | 2.5 | 1.0 | 0.8 |
| Snow on the ground (cm) | 52 | 67 | 68 | 38 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 13 | 22 | 36 |
Long-term averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, with temperatures carried to the height of the falls (687 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 | 88% | 144% | 110% | 65% | 43% | 145% | 118% | 56% | 106% | 186% | 104% | 250% |
| 2021 | 84% | 82% | 97% | 44% | 135% | 89% | 125% | 32% | 98% | 116% | 86% | 64% |
| 2022 | 48% | 128% | 33% | 46% | 78% | 106% | 49% | 75% | 134% | 99% | 213% | 104% |
| 2023 | 172% | 82% | 136% | 181% | 49% | 78% | 133% | 182% | 125% | 48% | 106% | 98% |
| 2024 | 87% | 182% | 239% | 103% | 117% | 135% | 121% | 132% | 147% | 101% | 36% | 109% |
| 2025 | 127% | 65% | 46% | 60% | 63% | 73% | 106% | 98% | 210% | 135% | 107% | 137% |
130% wetter than usual 70% drier than usual
Compare with the waterfalls nearby.
Rjukanfossen
Norway
- 238 mHeight
- 43 m³/sAverage flow
- May–AugBest months
About these numbers
| Names, height, width, river | Wikidata (Q986495) · 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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