Canada 
In numbers.
96m
Height
1,000m³/s
Average flow
May–Aug
Best months
942MW
Water power
estimate
The water at Virginia Falls, month by month
It roars from May to July.
The fullest months: from May to July, with the snowmelt. The thinnest: from October to March. Below −4 °C on average (from November to March): the falls can partly freeze.
- 73 m³/sJan
- 44 m³/sFeb
- 236 m³/sMar
- 1,184 m³/sApr
- 3,511 m³/sMay
- 4,582 m³/sJun
- 4,521 m³/sJul
- 3,222 m³/sAug
- 2,026 m³/sSep
- 1,033 m³/sOct
- 390 m³/sNov
- 122 m³/sDec
From about 44 m³/s in the lowest month to 4,582 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 on the South Nahanni River in Northwest Territories, Canada
Virginia Falls is a waterfall in Canada. The water falls 96 m over a front 259 m wide. It lies within Nahanni National Park Reserve. It is part of a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Getting there.
- Watson Lake Airport (YQH)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 235 km in a straight lineCar hire at YYE airport (Fort Nelson)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.
942 MW
About 1,000 m³/s falling 96 m: the power of the water as it drops.
- as much as 314 large wind turbines
- enough to power about 235,400 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 127 m in 3.6 km. Here the river runs about 96 m below the lower rim of its valley.
What is around.
- —viewpoints
- —waymarked walking routes
- —car parks
- —swimming spots
- —picnic sites
- 1toilets
- —information boards and visitor centres
- —bus stops within 1 km
- —other named waterfalls within 4 km
- —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 | -13 | -10 | -6 | 2 | 11 | 17 | 20 | 18 | 11 | 2 | -10 | -13 |
| Night °C | -20 | -19 | -17 | -7 | 3 | 9 | 12 | 9 | 3 | -6 | -16 | -19 |
| Rain & snow (mm) | 32 | 21 | 28 | 38 | 73 | 128 | 120 | 94 | 60 | 43 | 32 | 27 |
| Wet days | 8 | 6 | 8 | 10 | 15 | 20 | 20 | 15 | 12 | 11 | 9 | 8 |
| Sun h/day | 1.8 | 4.4 | 7.6 | 9.4 | 9.1 | 8.3 | 8.1 | 7.3 | 5.8 | 3.4 | 1.9 | 1.1 |
| Snow on the ground (cm) | 48 | 55 | 59 | 47 | 12 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 19 | 28 | 38 |
Long-term averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, with temperatures carried to the height of the falls (500 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 | 98% | 114% | 112% | 100% | 123% | 92% | 137% | 213% | 47% | 88% | 104% | 119% |
| 2021 | 68% | 97% | 144% | 94% | 93% | 82% | 61% | 162% | 80% | 45% | 177% | 85% |
| 2022 | 130% | 256% | 146% | 106% | 134% | 76% | 49% | 74% | 33% | 126% | 69% | 95% |
| 2023 | 63% | 109% | 86% | 104% | 48% | 114% | 132% | 50% | 133% | 37% | 140% | 55% |
| 2024 | 116% | 65% | 65% | 74% | 102% | 108% | 89% | 66% | 69% | 84% | 82% | 116% |
| 2025 | 56% | 99% | 104% | 94% | 165% | 86% | 132% | 69% | 89% | 64% | 72% | 229% |
130% wetter than usual 70% drier than usual
About these numbers
| Names, height, width, river | Wikidata (Q38604) · 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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