Iceland 
In numbers.
0.25m³/s
Average flow
estimate
Jul
Best months
624m
Elevation
The water at Sauðárfoss, month by month
It roars from May to June.
The fullest months: from May to June, with the snowmelt. The thinnest: February. Below −4 °C on average (from November to March): the falls can partly freeze.
- 0.2 m³/sJan
- 0.1 m³/sFeb
- 0.1 m³/sMar
- 0.4 m³/sApr
- 0.8 m³/sMay
- 0.6 m³/sJun
- 0.4 m³/sJul
- 0.3 m³/sAug
- 0.3 m³/sSep
- 0.3 m³/sOct
- 0.3 m³/sNov
- 0.2 m³/sDec
From about 0.08 m³/s in the lowest month to 0.75 m³/s in the highest. Best months to go, with plenty of water and pleasant days: July.
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.
Sauðárfoss is a waterfall in Iceland.
Getting there.
- Hornafjörður Airport (HFN)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 76 km in a straight lineCar hire at HFN airport (Höfn)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- Julybest months to go (estimate)
Plan your visit
Stay, explore and get there
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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.
What is around.
- —viewpoints
- —waymarked walking routes
- —car parks
- —swimming spots
- —picnic sites
- —toilets
- —information boards and visitor centres
- —bus stops within 1 km
- 1other named waterfalls within 4 kmHverfandi
- —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 | -3 | -3 | -2 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 9 | 8 | 5 | 1 | -2 | -3 |
| Night °C | -9 | -9 | -8 | -6 | -2 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 0 | -3 | -7 | -9 |
| Rain & snow (mm) | 95 | 80 | 83 | 75 | 75 | 66 | 94 | 90 | 103 | 110 | 106 | 99 |
| Wet days | 20 | 17 | 19 | 18 | 17 | 17 | 19 | 19 | 19 | 21 | 20 | 20 |
| Sun h/day | 0.4 | 1.1 | 3.8 | 6.4 | 7.3 | 7.6 | 5.9 | 5.0 | 3.5 | 1.6 | 0.6 | 0.4 |
| Snow on the ground (cm) | 62 | 78 | 87 | 72 | 30 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 9 | 17 | 28 | 45 |
Long-term averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, with temperatures carried to the height of the falls (624 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 | 81% | 139% | 82% | 89% | 53% | 74% | 79% | 68% | 115% | 132% | 94% | 163% |
| 2021 | 94% | 109% | 103% | 41% | 57% | 130% | 39% | 37% | 128% | 157% | 100% | 70% |
| 2022 | 72% | 130% | 97% | 91% | 153% | 160% | 109% | 108% | 75% | 116% | 187% | 71% |
| 2023 | 85% | 60% | 105% | 90% | 75% | 110% | 93% | 50% | 123% | 117% | 77% | 55% |
| 2024 | 62% | 73% | 149% | 90% | 69% | 132% | 81% | 160% | 57% | 84% | 57% | 43% |
| 2025 | 125% | 109% | 60% | 86% | 63% | 223% | 59% | 76% | 139% | 65% | 47% | 108% |
130% wetter than usual 70% drier than usual
Compare with the waterfalls nearby.
Sauðárfoss
Iceland
- —Height
- 0.25 m³/sAverage flow
- JulBest months
About these numbers
| Names, height, width, river | Wikidata (Q16425086) · 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
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