Reservoir · Switzerland
Lac de Joux
Lake in the Vallée de Joux in the Canton of Vaud, Switzerland
- Area
- 8.3km²
- Max depth
- 21m
- Average depth
- 21m
- Elevation
- 1,002m a.s.l.
- Shoreline
- 21km
- Volume
- 0.176km³
Lac de Joux is a reservoir in Switzerland. It covers 8.3 km². On average it is 21 m deep, and 21 m at its deepest point. Its surface lies 1,002 m above sea level.
Plan your visit
Stay, sail 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.
The water
How warm is Lac de Joux?
The water is warmest in July, around 21 °C at the surface, and coldest in February, around 1 °C. The surface averages 20 °C or more from July to August: comfortable for most swimmers.
It does not normally freeze in winter.
On the shore, afternoons reach 23 °C on average in July and 2 °C in January. The driest month is February (75 mm of rain), the wettest May (117 mm).
Average surface temperature measured by the Landsat 8 satellite between 2013 and 2021 at the point furthest from the shore (55 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 | 1 | 2 | 2 | -4 | 96 | 13 | 3.3 | 12 |
| February | 1 | 1 | 4 | -3 | 75 | 11 | 4.4 | 13 |
| March | 2 | 4 | 8 | 0 | 92 | 12 | 5.5 | 13 |
| April | 6 | 9 | 13 | 4 | 82 | 13 | 6.3 | 12 |
| May | 12 | 15 | 17 | 8 | 117 | 16 | 6.6 | 12 |
| June | 18 | 20 | 21 | 12 | 107 | 15 | 8.5 | 11 |
| July | 21 | 21 | 23 | 14 | 101 | 14 | 8.9 | 11 |
| August | 20 | 21 | 23 | 14 | 107 | 13 | 7.9 | 10 |
| September | 17 | 19 | 19 | 10 | 80 | 12 | 6.9 | 11 |
| October | 12 | 14 | 14 | 6 | 103 | 13 | 5.0 | 11 |
| November | 7 | 9 | 8 | 1 | 100 | 14 | 3.1 | 11 |
| December | 3 | 5 | 3 | -2 | 108 | 14 | 2.6 | 12 |
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 8 months before flowing out.
- Its catchment drains 214 km² of land.
- About 8.3 m³ of water flow out every second, on average.
Around the shore
What's around Lac de Joux
Counted within 1.5 km of the shoreline in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit.
- 15beaches and swimming spots
Tobogan du Rocheray and 14 more
- 10campsites
Le Patinage, Le Téléski, Stellplatz Crêt Blanc, Stellplatz Les Crettets, Stellplatz Parking 1, Le Chenit and 5 more
- 3boat hire and water-sport clubs
Lac du Joux, Ski nautique Vallée de Joux
- 4marinas and slipways
- 4ferry piers
Les Bioux (lac), Le Pont (lac), Le Rocheray (lac), Le Lieu Roche Fendue (lac)
- 4viewpoints
Tête du lac
- 8hotels, B&Bs and chalets
Hôtel de la truite, La Picotettaz, Hôtel de Ville - La Baie Du Lac, Chambre d'Hôtes les Fuves, Berney and 3 more
- —fishing spots
- 22restaurants and cafés
Towns on the shore
- Le Chenit4,062 people
- L'Abbaye
Nearest airport with scheduled flights: Geneva International Airport (GVA), 46 km in a straight line.
Car hire at GVA airport (Geneva)Discover Cars · Affiliate linkOpenStreetMap is built by volunteers: when a number is low, it may just mean nobody has mapped it yet.
Photos
Seen by visitors
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 | 2.3 | 3.5 | 8.2 | 13.0 | 16.6 | 21.1 | 23.4 | 23.1 | 18.9 | 14.2 | 7.6 | 3.2 |
| 2020 | +2.2 | +3.7 | +0.9 | +3.3 | +1.3 | −1.7 | +1.3 | +2.0 | +2.2 | −2.3 | +2.0 | +0.3 |
| 2021 | −1.4 | +4.0 | +0.5 | −1.8 | −2.6 | +1.2 | −1.9 | −1.9 | +2.1 | +0.1 | −1.1 | ±0.0 |
| 2022 | +0.7 | +2.0 | +2.9 | −0.2 | +3.3 | +3.6 | +4.4 | +4.3 | ±0.0 | +4.0 | +1.8 | +1.5 |
| 2023 | +0.9 | +2.6 | +1.3 | −1.7 | +0.5 | +2.5 | +2.2 | +2.5 | +5.7 | +4.2 | −0.2 | +1.9 |
| 2024 | +1.7 | +4.7 | +2.5 | −0.4 | −0.3 | −0.3 | +0.8 | +2.5 | −1.4 | +1.7 | +1.8 | +0.2 |
| 2025 | +2.1 | +2.5 | +2.3 | +2.1 | +0.7 | +3.6 | +0.1 | +2.6 | −0.8 | −1.2 | ±0.0 | +2.3 |
+1 warmer than usual −1 cooler than usual
Nearby
More lakes nearby
FranceAbout 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 (Q14472) · 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.
