Lake · United States
Bde Maka Ska
Lake in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States of America
- Area
- 1.6km²
- Average depth
- 4.9m
- Elevation
- 255m a.s.l.
- Shoreline
- 4.8km
- Volume
- 0.008km³
Bde Maka Ska is a lake in United States. It covers 1.6 km². On average it is 4.9 m deep. Its surface lies 255 m above sea level.
Plan your visit
Stay, sail and get there
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The water
How warm is Bde Maka Ska?
The water is warmest in July, around 26 °C at the surface, and coldest in January, around 0 °C. The surface averages 20 °C or more from June to September: comfortable for most swimmers.
The lake usually freezes over for about 121 days a year, from around 1 December to 31 March.
On the shore, afternoons reach 29 °C on average in July and -6 °C in January. The driest month is January (18 mm of rain), the wettest June (130 mm).
Average surface temperature measured by the Landsat 8 satellite between 2013 and 2021 at the point furthest from the shore (70 readings). Shallow bays and beaches are often warmer.
From above
The whole lake from space
Month by month
The year at the lake, month by month
Not a forecast: these are averages over many years. Water is the 2013–2021 average; air, rain, sun and wind are the 1991–2020 average.
Water: 2013–2021 averageClimate: 1991–2020 average
| Month | Water°C | Water high°C | Air high°C | Air low°C | Rainmm | Rainy daysdays | Sunh/day | Windkm/h |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | Ice | — | -6 | -15 | 18 | 5 | 4.9 | 17 |
| February | Ice | — | -4 | -14 | 27 | 5 | 6.9 | 18 |
| March | Ice | — | 5 | -6 | 44 | 7 | 7.0 | 17 |
| April | 5 | 10 | 13 | 1 | 82 | 11 | 6.9 | 17 |
| May | 15 | 19 | 20 | 8 | 109 | 12 | 7.2 | 15 |
| June | 22 | 25 | 26 | 14 | 130 | 15 | 8.3 | 13 |
| July | 26 | 26 | 29 | 17 | 94 | 13 | 9.4 | 12 |
| August | 25 | 26 | 27 | 15 | 107 | 13 | 7.9 | 12 |
| September | 21 | 23 | 23 | 11 | 89 | 10 | 6.5 | 14 |
| October | 14 | 17 | 14 | 3 | 70 | 8 | 4.7 | 15 |
| November | 5 | 9 | 5 | -4 | 33 | 6 | 3.6 | 15 |
| December | Ice | — | -3 | -11 | 37 | 6 | 2.9 | 16 |
Water: LakeTEMP (Landsat 8, 2013–2021). Air, rain, sun and wind: NASA POWER, 1991–2020 averages. A rainy day has at least 1 mm of rain. Sunshine hours are derived from measured solar radiation.
Size & depth
How big, how deep
- On average, water stays in the lake for about 2.1 years before flowing out.
- Its catchment drains 17 km² of land.
- About 0.1 m³ of water flow out every second, on average.
Around the shore
What's around Bde Maka Ska
Counted within 1.5 km of the shoreline in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit.
- 10beaches and swimming spots
Cedar Lake South Beach, Lake Harriet North Beach, Bde Maka Ska Thomas Beach, Bde Maka Ska North Beach, 32nd Beach and 5 more
- —campsites
- 2boat hire and water-sport clubs
Wheel Fun Rentals Lake Harriet, Wheel Fun Rentals Bde Maka Ska
- 7marinas and slipways
- —ferry piers
- —viewpoints
- 1hotels, B&Bs and chalets
Moxy Minneapolis Uptown
- —fishing spots
- 97restaurants and cafés
Towns on the shore
- Saint Louis Park45,250 people
Nearest airport with scheduled flights: Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport / Wold–Chamberlain Field (MSP), 10 km in a straight line.
Car hire at MSP airport (Minneapolis)Discover Cars · Affiliate linkOpenStreetMap is built by volunteers: when a number is low, it may just mean nobody has mapped it yet.
Recent years
How each month compared
Afternoon high on the shore. The first row is the reference, the 1991–2020 average in °C; the years below show the difference from it: warmer in orange, cooler in blue.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1991–2020 average | -5.7 | -3.5 | 5.0 | 13.3 | 20.1 | 25.6 | 28.7 | 27.0 | 22.8 | 13.5 | 5.2 | -3.0 |
| 2020 | +1.4 | +0.6 | +1.5 | −2.2 | −1.7 | +0.7 | −0.3 | −0.2 | −2.3 | −3.8 | +1.2 | +2.2 |
| 2021 | +2.2 | −4.5 | +4.0 | +0.1 | +0.1 | +4.1 | +1.9 | +1.9 | +1.9 | +3.9 | +0.3 | +1.5 |
| 2022 | −2.3 | −1.8 | −1.5 | −3.5 | +0.7 | +1.5 | +1.1 | +1.3 | +1.4 | +2.3 | +0.1 | −2.4 |
| 2023 | +0.9 | +0.8 | −3.1 | −2.4 | +2.5 | +2.2 | −0.1 | +2.3 | +3.2 | +1.4 | +1.6 | +5.9 |
| 2024 | +2.4 | +7.5 | +1.6 | +0.6 | +1.8 | −0.7 | −1.6 | −1.3 | +2.7 | +4.9 | +1.2 | +1.5 |
| 2025 | −0.4 | −0.9 | +3.7 | −0.4 | +0.9 | −0.4 | −0.3 | −0.9 | +0.8 | +3.1 | +1.8 | −1.1 |
+1 warmer than usual −1 cooler than usual
Nearby
More lakes nearby
United States31.1 km² · 18 km away25°maxMille Lacs LakeUnited States516 km² · 148 km away22°maxBig Stone LakeUnited States44.6 km² · 252 km away25°maxLeech LakeUnited States413 km² · 261 km away22°maxLake ItascaUnited States4.0 km² · 292 km away23°maxRed LakeUnited States1,142 km² · 363 km away22°maxAbout these numbers
| Outline, area, depth, volume | HydroLAKES v1.0 (Messager et al. 2016) · CC BY 4.0 |
|---|---|
| Water temperature and ice | LakeTEMP v1 (Korver et al. 2024), Landsat 8 2013–2021 · CC BY 4.0 |
| Air, rain, sun, wind | NASA POWER, 1991–2020 · public domain |
| Names and description | Wikidata (Q1800879) · CC0 |
| Around the shore | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
Every figure is an average or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.
