Reservoir · United States
Big Bear Lake
Big Bear
Reservoir in California, United States
- Area
- 10.4km²
- Max depth
- 22m
- Average depth
- 8.8m
- Elevation
- 2,059m a.s.l.
- Shoreline
- 30km
- Volume
- 0.091km³
Big Bear Lake is a reservoir in United States. It covers 10.4 km². On average it is 8.8 m deep, and 22 m at its deepest point. Its surface lies 2,059 m above sea level.
Plan your visit
Stay, sail and get there
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The water
How warm is Big Bear Lake?
The water is warmest in July, around 22 °C at the surface, and coldest in January, around 2 °C. The surface averages 20 °C or more from June to August: comfortable for most swimmers.
It does not normally freeze in winter.
On the shore, afternoons reach 36 °C on average in July and 12 °C in December. The driest month is June (0 mm of rain), the wettest December (29 mm).
Average surface temperature measured by the Landsat 8 satellite between 2013 and 2021 at the point furthest from the shore (104 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 | 2 | 2 | 12 | 1 | 28 | 5 | 7.9 | 13 |
| February | 4 | 5 | 14 | 1 | 29 | 6 | 8.9 | 14 |
| March | 7 | 9 | 18 | 4 | 15 | 4 | 10.4 | 15 |
| April | 12 | 14 | 22 | 6 | 10 | 3 | 12.0 | 17 |
| May | 16 | 18 | 27 | 10 | 3 | 1 | 13.2 | 16 |
| June | 20 | 21 | 34 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 14.1 | 16 |
| July | 22 | 23 | 36 | 19 | 10 | 2 | 12.4 | 14 |
| August | 22 | 22 | 36 | 19 | 9 | 3 | 12.1 | 13 |
| September | 19 | 21 | 31 | 16 | 5 | 2 | 11.4 | 12 |
| October | 14 | 17 | 24 | 10 | 10 | 2 | 10.2 | 13 |
| November | 8 | 11 | 17 | 4 | 14 | 2 | 8.7 | 12 |
| December | 4 | 6 | 12 | 0 | 29 | 4 | 7.5 | 13 |
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 5.2 years before flowing out.
- Its catchment drains 88 km² of land.
- About 0.6 m³ of water flow out every second, on average.
- Its shoreline is 2.6 times longer than a circle of the same area: plenty of bays and inlets.
Around the shore
What's around Big Bear Lake
Counted within 1.5 km of the shoreline in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit.
- 3beaches and swimming spots
Swim Beach
- 6campsites
Yellow Post 1, Yellow Post #30, Lighthouse Trailer Resort & Marina, Big Bear Shores RV Resort, Serrano Campground and 1 more
- 1boat hire and water-sport clubs
Paddles and Pedals
- 8marinas and slipways
Carol Morrison East Boat Ramp, Halloway's Marina and RV Park, Captain John's Fawn Harbor & Marina and 5 more
- —ferry piers
- 1viewpoints
Bear Valley Dam Vista Point
- 31hotels, B&Bs and chalets
The Robinhood Resort, Edgewater Resort & Lakefront Suites, Cal Pine Chalets, Knights Inn, Cozy Pine Cabin and 26 more
- —fishing spots
- 60restaurants and cafés
Towns on the shore
- Big Bear City12,304 people
- Big Bear Lake5,213 people
Nearest airport with scheduled flights: San Bernardino International Airport (SBD), 34 km in a straight line.
Car hire at PSP airport (Palm Springs)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 | 12.5 | 14.0 | 18.0 | 21.5 | 27.0 | 33.5 | 36.4 | 35.5 | 31.4 | 24.3 | 17.4 | 11.7 |
| 2020 | +1.0 | +1.6 | −3.3 | −0.9 | +1.2 | −1.6 | +0.8 | +1.9 | +2.4 | +3.2 | +0.7 | +1.2 |
| 2021 | −0.1 | +0.9 | −2.0 | +2.6 | +1.4 | +2.7 | +0.1 | +0.8 | +1.1 | −2.3 | +4.0 | +0.7 |
| 2022 | +0.6 | +0.2 | +1.4 | +2.2 | +1.3 | +1.2 | −0.2 | −0.3 | +1.0 | +1.3 | −3.3 | ±0.0 |
| 2023 | −2.7 | −2.9 | −5.4 | +1.0 | −1.9 | −4.7 | +2.1 | −1.2 | −2.0 | +0.9 | +0.2 | +3.0 |
| 2024 | +0.4 | −1.1 | −3.2 | −0.1 | −0.2 | +2.0 | +3.5 | +0.9 | +1.5 | +4.1 | −0.8 | +5.3 |
| 2025 | +0.2 | +3.2 | −0.9 | +0.6 | +0.5 | +1.0 | −0.3 | +0.8 | −1.2 | +0.3 | +1.9 | +5.1 |
+1 warmer than usual −1 cooler than usual
About 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 (Q14681604) · 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.
