Lake · Canada · United States
Lake Champlain
Lake in New York, Vermont and Quebec
- Area
- 1,141km²
- Max depth
- 122m
- Average depth
- 23m
- Elevation
- 28m a.s.l.
- Shoreline
- 976km
- Volume
- 25.8km³
Lake Champlain is a lake in Canada. It covers 1,141 km². On average it is 23 m deep, and 122 m at its deepest point. Its surface lies 28 m above sea level.
Plan your visit
Stay, sail and get there
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The water
How warm is Lake Champlain?
The water is warmest in August, around 23 °C at the surface, and coldest in February, around 0 °C. The surface averages 20 °C or more from July to August: comfortable for most swimmers.
The lake usually freezes over for about 61 days a year, from around 4 February to 5 April.
On the shore, afternoons reach 26 °C on average in July and -4 °C in January. The driest month is January (56 mm of rain), the wettest June (128 mm).
Average surface temperature measured by the Landsat 8 satellite between 2013 and 2021 at the point furthest from the shore (71 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 | 3 | -4 | -14 | 56 | 12 | 3.0 | 11 |
| February | Ice | — | -3 | -13 | 58 | 10 | 4.0 | 12 |
| March | Ice | — | 2 | -7 | 67 | 12 | 5.2 | 12 |
| April | 2 | 4 | 10 | 0 | 86 | 13 | 6.0 | 11 |
| May | 8 | 12 | 18 | 8 | 102 | 14 | 6.7 | 9 |
| June | 16 | 19 | 23 | 13 | 128 | 16 | 7.2 | 8 |
| July | 22 | 23 | 26 | 16 | 109 | 17 | 7.8 | 8 |
| August | 23 | 23 | 25 | 15 | 100 | 15 | 7.4 | 7 |
| September | 19 | 21 | 21 | 11 | 86 | 12 | 6.6 | 8 |
| October | 14 | 16 | 13 | 4 | 113 | 13 | 3.8 | 9 |
| November | 9 | 11 | 5 | -2 | 75 | 12 | 2.8 | 10 |
| December | 5 | 7 | -1 | -9 | 83 | 13 | 2.0 | 10 |
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 24 months before flowing out.
- Its catchment drains 21,344 km² of land.
- About 411 m³ of water flow out every second, on average.
- Its shoreline is 8.2 times longer than a circle of the same area: plenty of bays and inlets.
Around the shore
What's around Lake Champlain
Counted within 1.5 km of the shoreline in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit.
- 78beaches and swimming spots
Plage Miller, Port Henry Village Beach, Westport Beach, Shelburne Beach, Burlington Surf Club and 73 more
- 45campsites
Port Henry Village Campground, Monitor Bay Campground, Lakewood campground, Brown Ledge Camp, Paddlers Site and 40 more
- 7boat hire and water-sport clubs
Water Witch, Burlington Bay Horse Ferry, Champlain II, O.J. Walker, General Butler and 2 more
- 115marinas and slipways
Dillenbeck Bay Boat Ramp, Converse Bay Boat Ramp2, Lapham Bay boat ramp, Fort Cassin, Larabee's Point and 110 more
- 8ferry piers
Port Kent, NY Dock, Plattsburgh, NY Dock, Charlotte, VT Dock, Essex, NY Dock and 4 more
- 25viewpoints
Sand Bar Causeway, Granite Steps, Waterfront pause place 3, Hoyt Lookout, MacDonough Point and 20 more
- 30hotels, B&Bs and chalets
Thomas Mott B&B, Lee House Senior Apartments, Burlington Hostel, Hotel Vermont, Le Rosay and 25 more
- 6fishing spots
McCuen Slang Access Area, Sand Bar Access Area, Burlington Fishing Pier, Mud Creek Pond Access Area and 2 more
- 136restaurants and cafés
Towns on the shore
- Burlington42,452 people
- Plattsburgh19,806 people
- Charlotte3,861 people
- Ticonderoga3,382 people
- Ferrisburgh2,764 people
- Whitehall2,582 people
- Swanton2,370 people
- Rouses Point2,169 people
Nearest airport with scheduled flights: Patrick Leahy Burlington International Airport (BTV), 14 km in a straight line.
Car hire at BTV airport (Burlington)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 | -4.5 | -2.9 | 2.4 | 10.4 | 18.1 | 22.8 | 25.6 | 24.8 | 21.1 | 12.9 | 5.3 | -1.3 |
| 2020 | +2.9 | +1.2 | +2.6 | −2.1 | −0.6 | +1.4 | +2.1 | +0.1 | −0.2 | −0.3 | +2.2 | +2.4 |
| 2021 | +0.3 | −1.0 | +2.7 | +1.7 | +0.4 | +2.5 | −1.6 | +2.2 | +0.5 | +3.1 | +0.3 | +1.9 |
| 2022 | −1.8 | +1.5 | +1.2 | −0.5 | +2.8 | −0.2 | +0.7 | +1.4 | −0.9 | +2.0 | +2.3 | +1.5 |
| 2023 | +3.0 | +2.1 | ±0.0 | +2.0 | +0.2 | −0.7 | +0.5 | −1.4 | +1.0 | +2.2 | −1.6 | +2.8 |
| 2024 | +1.6 | +3.2 | +2.2 | +0.4 | +2.0 | +1.5 | +1.7 | −0.5 | +1.2 | +1.6 | +1.9 | −0.2 |
| 2025 | −1.1 | −1.9 | +2.6 | +0.8 | −0.7 | +1.6 | +1.6 | +0.4 | +1.1 | +1.6 | −2.0 | −2.2 |
+1 warmer than usual −1 cooler than usual
Nearby
More lakes nearby
United States113 km² · 82 km away24°maxLac Saint-LouisCanada151 km² · 110 km away22°maxLake MemphremagogCanada90.7 km² · 106 km away22°maxLake of Two MountainsCanada153 km² · 121 km away24°maxLake Saint FrancisCanada238 km² · 109 km away22°maxLake WinnipesaukeeUnited States182 km² · 187 km away23°maxAbout 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 (Q68467) · 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.
