Sweden 
In numbers.
40m
Height
6.0m³/s
Average flow
Jun–Jul
Best months
2.4MW
Water power
estimate
The water at Stora Sjöfallet, month by month
It roars from June to July.
The fullest months: from June to July, with the snowmelt. The thinnest: from October to April. Below −4 °C on average (from November to March): the falls can partly freeze.
- 2%Jan
- 3%Feb
- 7%Mar
- 17%Apr
- 68%May
- 100%Jun
- 83%Jul
- 52%Aug
- 35%Sep
- 23%Oct
- 13%Nov
- 5%Dec
Best months to go, with plenty of water and pleasant days: from June to July.
Estimate from rain, snowmelt and evaporation month by month (NASA POWER, 1991–2020) around the falls. Dams upstream can change the real flow.
Waterfall in Sweden
Stora Sjöfallet is a waterfall in Sweden. The water falls 40 m. It lies within Stora Sjöfallet National Park. It is part of a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Getting there.
- Parking 1,530 m awaynearest car park in OpenStreetMap, straight line
- Kiruna Airport (KRN)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 93 km in a straight lineCar hire at KRN airport (Kiruna)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- From June to Julybest 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.
2.4 MW
About 6.0 m³/s falling 40 m: the power of the water as it drops.
- enough to power about 589 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 39 m in 1.4 km.
What is around.
- —viewpoints
- 1waymarked walking routesKungsleden Etapp 13: Vakkotavare - Saltoluokta
- 3car parks
- —swimming spots
- 5picnic sites
- 2toilets
- 7information boards and visitor centres
- —bus stops within 1 km
- —other named waterfalls within 4 km
- —caves
- 1campsitesStora Sjöfallet
- 1hotels, B&Bs and huts within 6 km
- 2restaurants 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 | -8 | -7 | -3 | 1 | 6 | 12 | 16 | 14 | 9 | 1 | -4 | -6 |
| Night °C | -13 | -13 | -11 | -6 | 0 | 6 | 10 | 8 | 4 | -3 | -8 | -11 |
| Rain & snow (mm) | 66 | 60 | 63 | 60 | 84 | 112 | 149 | 108 | 100 | 78 | 71 | 76 |
| Wet days | 20 | 18 | 19 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 24 | 22 | 20 | 21 | 20 | 21 |
| Sun h/day | 0.7 | 2.1 | 6.0 | 9.0 | 8.5 | 8.2 | 7.3 | 5.7 | 3.6 | 1.5 | 0.6 | 0.3 |
| Snow on the ground (cm) | 82 | 98 | 110 | 110 | 64 | 12 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 19 | 37 | 61 |
Long-term averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, with temperatures carried to the height of the falls (415 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 | 199% | 123% | 142% | 127% | 78% | 50% | 143% | 80% | 117% | 106% | 125% | 84% |
| 2021 | 64% | 117% | 127% | 111% | 108% | 112% | 77% | 132% | 86% | 183% | 97% | 76% |
| 2022 | 149% | 116% | 115% | 122% | 138% | 112% | 143% | 141% | 78% | 125% | 57% | 83% |
| 2023 | 116% | 114% | 96% | 167% | 121% | 106% | 65% | 120% | 178% | 90% | 57% | 77% |
| 2024 | 112% | 86% | 80% | 107% | 46% | 123% | 102% | 190% | 99% | 179% | 138% | 140% |
| 2025 | 125% | 91% | 146% | 139% | 103% | 97% | 69% | 119% | 112% | 147% | 95% | 126% |
130% wetter than usual 70% drier than usual
Compare with the waterfalls nearby.
Stora Sjöfallet
Sweden
- 40 mHeight
- 6.0 m³/sAverage flow
- Jun–JulBest months
About these numbers
| Names, height, width, river | Wikidata (Q10681098) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| 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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