Reservoir · Kazakhstan
Kapchagay Reservoir
Reservoir in Kazakhstan
- Area
- 1,206km²
- Max depth
- 45m
- Average depth
- 23m
- Elevation
- 475m a.s.l.
- Shoreline
- 298km
- Volume
- 28.1km³
Kapchagay Reservoir is a reservoir in Kazakhstan. It covers 1,206 km². On average it is 23 m deep, and 45 m at its deepest point. Its surface lies 475 m above sea level.
Plan your visit
Stay, sail and get there
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The water
How warm is Kapchagay Reservoir?
The water is warmest in July, around 24 °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 76 days a year, from around 29 December to 14 March.
On the shore, afternoons reach 32 °C on average in July and 0 °C in January. The driest month is September (19 mm of rain), the wettest April (52 mm).
Average surface temperature measured by the Landsat 8 satellite between 2013 and 2021 at the point furthest from the shore (106 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 | — | 0 | -8 | 21 | 6 | 5.1 | 16 |
| February | Ice | — | 3 | -6 | 24 | 7 | 6.2 | 16 |
| March | 1 | 4 | 11 | 1 | 34 | 8 | 7.2 | 17 |
| April | 8 | 12 | 18 | 7 | 52 | 9 | 8.8 | 16 |
| May | 15 | 19 | 25 | 13 | 46 | 9 | 11.0 | 14 |
| June | 22 | 23 | 30 | 19 | 35 | 8 | 11.3 | 13 |
| July | 24 | 24 | 32 | 21 | 26 | 7 | 11.2 | 13 |
| August | 23 | 24 | 31 | 19 | 19 | 4 | 11.0 | 14 |
| September | 20 | 22 | 25 | 13 | 19 | 4 | 9.6 | 14 |
| October | 16 | 19 | 16 | 6 | 32 | 6 | 6.9 | 14 |
| November | 10 | 13 | 7 | -1 | 37 | 8 | 4.4 | 15 |
| December | 3 | 6 | 1 | -7 | 25 | 7 | 3.8 | 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 4.5 years before flowing out.
- Its catchment drains 113,658 km² of land.
- About 197 m³ of water flow out every second, on average.
Around the shore
What's around Kapchagay Reservoir
Counted within 1.5 km of the shoreline in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit.
- 32beaches and swimming spots
MoreLux, Robinzone Beach Resort, Blue Lagoon and 29 more
- 5campsites
Beach camping, Camping on the beach
- 1boat hire and water-sport clubs
- 3marinas and slipways
- —ferry piers
- 3viewpoints
közqaras
- 14hotels, B&Bs and chalets
Altyn Emel, Freedom, 18-11, Del Mare, MoreLux ***** and 9 more
- 1fishing spots
- 7restaurants and cafés
Towns on the shore
- Konayev42,167 people
Nearest airport with scheduled flights: Almaty International Airport (ALA), 62 km in a straight line.
Car hire at ALA airport (Almaty)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 | -0.1 | 3.0 | 11.2 | 18.2 | 24.6 | 30.0 | 32.4 | 31.1 | 24.7 | 16.3 | 7.1 | 0.8 |
| 2020 | +0.7 | +3.5 | +0.7 | +1.5 | +1.3 | −0.1 | −0.4 | +0.3 | −1.4 | −1.5 | −1.9 | −2.2 |
| 2021 | +0.2 | +2.8 | −2.1 | −0.1 | +2.0 | +0.4 | +2.3 | +0.5 | +2.2 | −3.0 | −1.1 | +4.2 |
| 2022 | +4.1 | +1.0 | −1.6 | +4.7 | +0.8 | +2.4 | +1.5 | −0.9 | +3.2 | +0.5 | −0.6 | −1.9 |
| 2023 | −1.7 | +1.8 | +2.3 | −0.1 | −1.0 | +1.3 | +2.8 | +0.6 | −1.7 | +2.8 | +4.7 | +1.2 |
| 2024 | +3.2 | −1.2 | −0.9 | +0.2 | +0.4 | +1.7 | +0.9 | +2.1 | −1.8 | +0.9 | +1.5 | +0.3 |
| 2025 | +1.9 | +1.5 | −0.4 | +2.8 | +3.6 | +2.8 | +3.1 | +0.9 | −0.2 | +0.2 | +2.6 | +3.4 |
+1 warmer than usual −1 cooler than usual
Nearby
More lakes nearby
Kyrgyzstan
ChinaAbout 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 (Q1112158) · 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.
