Lake · United Kingdom
Derwentwater
Lake in the United Kingdom
- Area
- 5.0km²
- Max depth
- 22m
- Average depth
- 11m
- Elevation
- 75m a.s.l.
- Shoreline
- 15km
- Volume
- 0.053km³
Derwentwater is a lake in United Kingdom. It covers 5.0 km². On average it is 11 m deep, and 22 m at its deepest point. Its surface lies 75 m above sea level.
Plan your visit
Stay, sail and get there
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The water
How warm is Derwentwater?
The water is warmest in July, around 18 °C at the surface, and coldest in January, around 3 °C. It rarely averages 20 °C, but it stays above 17 °C from June to July: brisk, refreshing swimming.
It does not normally freeze in winter.
On the shore, afternoons reach 17 °C on average in July and 6 °C in January. The driest month is April (67 mm of rain), the wettest December (135 mm).
Average surface temperature measured by the Landsat 8 satellite between 2013 and 2021 at the point furthest from the shore (56 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 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 2 | 125 | 19 | 0.9 | 25 |
| February | 4 | 5 | 6 | 2 | 100 | 16 | 2.3 | 24 |
| March | 7 | 9 | 7 | 2 | 87 | 16 | 3.8 | 22 |
| April | 11 | 13 | 10 | 4 | 67 | 15 | 5.8 | 20 |
| May | 15 | 17 | 13 | 7 | 80 | 15 | 6.7 | 19 |
| June | 18 | 18 | 16 | 10 | 96 | 17 | 5.8 | 18 |
| July | 18 | 18 | 17 | 12 | 114 | 19 | 5.8 | 17 |
| August | 16 | 17 | 17 | 12 | 128 | 20 | 5.0 | 18 |
| September | 14 | 15 | 15 | 10 | 100 | 17 | 4.2 | 20 |
| October | 11 | 12 | 12 | 8 | 130 | 19 | 2.4 | 22 |
| November | 7 | 9 | 9 | 5 | 129 | 20 | 1.3 | 23 |
| December | 4 | 6 | 6 | 3 | 135 | 19 | 0.8 | 24 |
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 3 months before flowing out.
- Its catchment drains 232 km² of land.
- About 7.2 m³ of water flow out every second, on average.
Around the shore
What's around Derwentwater
Counted within 1.5 km of the shoreline in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit.
- 11beaches and swimming spots
- 7campsites
Low Manesty Caravan Park, Castlerigg Hall Caravan & Camping Park, Derwentwater Camping and Caravan Club, Keswick Camping and Caravanning Club Site, Derwent Water Caravan Park and 2 more
- 5boat hire and water-sport clubs
Keswick Launch Company, Lakeland Rowing Club
- 7marinas and slipways
Derwentwater Marina, Nichol End Marine and 5 more
- 7ferry piers
Keswick, Nichol End, Low Brandelhow, Hawes End, High Brandelhow and 2 more
- 11viewpoints
Friar's Crag, Ashness Bridge, Surprise View Point, Castlehead, Salt Spring and 6 more
- 160hotels, B&Bs and chalets
Lairbeck Hotel, Bybeck House, Newlands House, Ravensworth House, Two Chimneys and 155 more
- —fishing spots
- 58restaurants and cafés
Towns on the shore
- Keswick4,658 people
Nearest airport with scheduled flights: Newcastle International Airport (NCL), 107 km in a straight line.
Car hire at BLK airport (Blackpool)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 | 5.5 | 5.5 | 7.2 | 10.1 | 13.3 | 16.1 | 17.4 | 17.1 | 15.2 | 12.1 | 8.6 | 6.3 |
| 2020 | +1.5 | +1.0 | +0.6 | +1.5 | +0.9 | +0.6 | −1.4 | +1.2 | −0.2 | −0.7 | +1.2 | −0.3 |
| 2021 | −1.8 | −0.5 | +0.8 | −1.0 | −1.6 | +1.0 | +2.1 | +0.5 | +2.0 | +0.9 | +0.6 | +0.5 |
| 2022 | +1.0 | +1.6 | +2.1 | +0.6 | +0.2 | +0.3 | +1.3 | +2.1 | +1.0 | +1.3 | +1.4 | −1.2 |
| 2023 | +0.7 | +2.0 | +0.2 | +0.2 | +1.9 | +3.3 | −0.5 | +0.4 | +2.2 | +0.5 | −0.3 | +1.0 |
| 2024 | +0.1 | +2.0 | +1.0 | +0.1 | +2.5 | −0.9 | −0.1 | +0.2 | +0.1 | +0.5 | ±0.0 | +1.6 |
| 2025 | −0.7 | +0.4 | +2.2 | +2.5 | +2.3 | +0.8 | +1.6 | +1.6 | −0.1 | +0.1 | +0.5 | +1.1 |
+1 warmer than usual −1 cooler than usual
Nearby
More lakes nearby
United Kingdom12.6 km² · 26 km away19°maxBassenthwaite LakeUnited Kingdom5.0 km² · 9 km away17°maxUllswaterUnited Kingdom8.0 km² · 13 km away17°maxWast WaterUnited Kingdom2.5 km² · 17 km away16°maxConiston WaterUnited Kingdom4.3 km² · 26 km away17°maxSulby Reservoir
Isle of Man0.1 km² · 94 km awayAbout 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 (Q934551) · 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.
