Lake · Japan
Lake Biwa
Freshwater lake in Japan
- Area
- 673km²
- Max depth
- 104m
- Average depth
- 42m
- Elevation
- 81m a.s.l.
- Shoreline
- 235km
- Volume
- 28.0km³
Lake Biwa is a lake in Japan. It covers 673 km². On average it is 42 m deep, and 104 m at its deepest point. Its surface lies 81 m above sea level.
Plan your visit
Stay, sail and get there
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The water
How warm is Lake Biwa?
The water is warmest in August, around 27 °C at the surface, and coldest in February, around 6 °C. The surface averages 20 °C or more from June to October: comfortable for most swimmers.
It does not normally freeze in winter.
On the shore, afternoons reach 29 °C on average in August and 4 °C in January. The driest month is February (104 mm of rain), the wettest July (246 mm).
Average surface temperature measured by the Landsat 8 satellite between 2013 and 2021 at the point furthest from the shore (129 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 | 8 | 9 | 4 | -2 | 130 | 21 | 3.2 | 18 |
| February | 6 | 7 | 5 | -1 | 104 | 17 | 4.0 | 18 |
| March | 7 | 8 | 9 | 1 | 127 | 14 | 5.0 | 19 |
| April | 10 | 13 | 16 | 6 | 136 | 12 | 5.8 | 17 |
| May | 16 | 19 | 21 | 12 | 148 | 12 | 6.2 | 16 |
| June | 22 | 24 | 24 | 16 | 178 | 15 | 4.9 | 13 |
| July | 26 | 27 | 28 | 21 | 246 | 17 | 4.7 | 13 |
| August | 27 | 27 | 29 | 22 | 158 | 15 | 6.2 | 13 |
| September | 24 | 26 | 25 | 18 | 202 | 15 | 5.0 | 14 |
| October | 20 | 22 | 19 | 11 | 167 | 13 | 4.8 | 15 |
| November | 15 | 18 | 13 | 6 | 115 | 15 | 4.1 | 15 |
| December | 11 | 13 | 7 | 1 | 153 | 21 | 3.1 | 18 |
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 7.9 years before flowing out.
- Its catchment drains 3,672 km² of land.
- About 112 m³ of water flow out every second, on average.
- Its shoreline is 2.5 times longer than a circle of the same area: plenty of bays and inlets.
Around the shore
What's around Lake Biwa
Counted within 1.5 km of the shoreline in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit.
- 26beaches and swimming spots
Manohama Beach, Miyagahama Beach, Omi Maiko Nakahama Beach and 23 more
- 11campsites
WEC JP Biwa Campsite, Bewako Maiami Auto Camp, Takarabune Family Campground, New Shirahama Auto Campsite, RV PARK OMI-MAIKO TONES and 6 more
- 1boat hire and water-sport clubs
- 25marinas and slipways
- 5ferry piers
Imazu Port, Midera
- 51viewpoints
- 89hotels, B&Bs and chalets
Yes Nagahama, Hotel & Resorts NAGAHAMA, Biwako Hotel and 86 more
- 1fishing spots
- 640restaurants and cafés
Towns on the shore
- Ōtsu345,070 people
- Nagahama113,636 people
- Moriyama85,485 people
- Takashima46,976 people
- Maibara38,259 people
- Kitahama23,836 people
Nearest airport with scheduled flights: Nagoya Airport / JASDF Komaki Air Base (NKM), 70 km in a straight line.
Car hire at KIX airport (Osaka)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 | 3.9 | 5.3 | 9.4 | 15.5 | 20.6 | 24.2 | 27.6 | 28.6 | 24.9 | 19.3 | 13.2 | 6.9 |
| 2020 | +3.3 | +1.9 | +1.9 | −2.0 | +0.5 | +1.2 | −1.8 | +1.3 | +0.5 | −0.8 | +1.1 | +0.4 |
| 2021 | +0.1 | +1.9 | +3.2 | +0.4 | −0.2 | +0.4 | +0.5 | −1.0 | −0.2 | +0.6 | +0.5 | +0.5 |
| 2022 | −0.5 | −1.5 | +1.6 | +2.5 | +0.1 | +0.7 | +0.8 | +0.2 | +1.3 | −0.2 | +2.0 | −0.7 |
| 2023 | +1.2 | +0.6 | +4.1 | +1.3 | +0.2 | +0.1 | +1.4 | +1.0 | +2.8 | −0.3 | +1.1 | +1.7 |
| 2024 | +1.6 | +2.2 | −0.7 | +2.8 | ±0.0 | +0.6 | +1.4 | +1.2 | +3.4 | +2.5 | +1.0 | −0.6 |
| 2025 | +0.7 | −1.7 | +0.8 | +0.9 | +0.2 | +1.4 | +2.4 | +1.4 | +2.0 | +1.1 | +0.4 | +1.4 |
+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 (Q200239) · 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.
