Japan 
In numbers.
200m³/s
Average flow
estimate
Aug–Nov
Best months
119m
Elevation
The water at Shiraito Falls, month by month
It roars from August to March.
The fullest months: from August to March.
- 428 m³/sJan
- 312 m³/sFeb
- 271 m³/sMar
- 225 m³/sApr
- 170 m³/sMay
- 83 m³/sJun
- 190 m³/sJul
- 264 m³/sAug
- 282 m³/sSep
- 283 m³/sOct
- 349 m³/sNov
- 439 m³/sDec
From about 83 m³/s in the lowest month to 439 m³/s in the highest. Best months to go, with plenty of water and pleasant days: from August to November.
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 Yamagata Prefecture, Japan
Shiraito Falls is a waterfall in Japan.
Getting there.
- Furukuchinearest town · 7.9 km in a straight line
- Parking 1,330 m awaynearest car park in OpenStreetMap, straight line
- Shonai Airport (SYO)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 24 km in a straight lineCar hire at SYO airport (Shonai)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- From August to Novemberbest 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 180 m in 0.4 km. Here the river runs about 25 m below the lower rim of its valley.
What is around.
- 1viewpoints幻想の森
- —waymarked walking routes
- 1car parks
- —swimming spots
- —picnic sites
- —toilets
- —information boards and visitor centres
- —bus stops within 1 km
- —other named waterfalls within 4 km
- —caves
- —campsites
- 1hotels, B&Bs and huts within 6 km高見屋 最上川別邸 紅
- 1restaurants 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
- Furukuchi7.9 km in a straight line
- Sado14 km in a straight line
- Shonai16 km in a straight line
- Shimizu16 km in a straight line
- Sukekawa17 km in a straight line
- Tsuruoka21 km in a straight line
- Shinjō21 km in a straight line
- Kuriyazawa22 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 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 13 | 19 | 23 | 26 | 28 | 24 | 18 | 12 | 5 |
| Night °C | -2 | -2 | 0 | 4 | 10 | 15 | 19 | 21 | 17 | 11 | 5 | 1 |
| Rain & snow (mm) | 159 | 104 | 107 | 100 | 103 | 116 | 211 | 186 | 145 | 165 | 173 | 198 |
| Wet days | 25 | 20 | 17 | 13 | 12 | 12 | 17 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 20 | 24 |
| Sun h/day | 1.5 | 2.6 | 3.8 | 5.0 | 5.5 | 5.4 | 4.0 | 5.1 | 4.8 | 4.0 | 2.5 | 1.4 |
| Snow on the ground (cm) | 21 | 22 | 13 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 15 |
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.
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% | 133% | 119% | 144% | 67% | 82% | 209% | 94% | 183% | 72% | 90% | 106% |
| 2021 | 113% | 149% | 101% | 121% | 127% | 65% | 81% | 91% | 73% | 86% | 150% | 144% |
| 2022 | 109% | 102% | 134% | 94% | 82% | 143% | 67% | 180% | 87% | 81% | 91% | 152% |
| 2023 | 85% | 96% | 80% | 131% | 217% | 211% | 109% | 22% | 141% | 112% | 146% | 106% |
| 2024 | 124% | 84% | 127% | 72% | 122% | 102% | 252% | 80% | 189% | 87% | 111% | 100% |
| 2025 | 97% | 115% | 99% | 173% | 190% | 98% | 9% | 175% | 240% | 145% | 127% | 126% |
130% wetter than usual 70% drier than usual
Compare with the waterfalls nearby.
Shiraito Falls
Japan
- —Height
- 200 m³/sAverage flow
- Aug–NovBest months
About these numbers
| Names, height, width, river | Wikidata (Q11580292) · 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