Reservoir · United States
Lake Chelan
Lake in Chelan County, Washington, United States of America
- Area
- 128km²
- Max depth
- 453m
- Average depth
- 6.5m
- Elevation
- 331m a.s.l.
- Shoreline
- 173km
- Volume
- 0.834km³
Lake Chelan is a reservoir in United States. It covers 128 km². On average it is 6.5 m deep, and 453 m at its deepest point. Its surface lies 331 m above sea level.
Plan your visit
Stay, sail and get there
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The water
How warm is Lake Chelan?
The water is warmest in August, around 18 °C at the surface, and coldest in February, around 4 °C. It rarely averages 20 °C, but it stays above 17 °C from August to September: brisk, refreshing swimming.
It does not normally freeze in winter.
On the shore, afternoons reach 21 °C on average in July and -3 °C in December. The driest month is July (20 mm of rain), the wettest December (158 mm).
Average surface temperature measured by the Landsat 8 satellite between 2013 and 2021 at the point furthest from the shore (149 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 | 4 | 5 | -2 | -9 | 150 | 20 | 2.2 | 6 |
| February | 4 | 4 | -2 | -9 | 96 | 16 | 4.0 | 7 |
| March | 5 | 6 | 1 | -6 | 114 | 19 | 4.3 | 7 |
| April | 7 | 8 | 4 | -3 | 67 | 16 | 6.0 | 7 |
| May | 10 | 12 | 12 | 1 | 61 | 14 | 7.2 | 7 |
| June | 14 | 15 | 16 | 5 | 43 | 12 | 7.9 | 7 |
| July | 17 | 18 | 21 | 8 | 20 | 6 | 10.9 | 7 |
| August | 18 | 18 | 21 | 8 | 23 | 5 | 9.6 | 6 |
| September | 17 | 18 | 16 | 4 | 44 | 8 | 7.3 | 6 |
| October | 14 | 16 | 8 | 0 | 109 | 15 | 4.4 | 6 |
| November | 10 | 12 | 1 | -5 | 156 | 20 | 2.3 | 6 |
| December | 6 | 8 | -3 | -10 | 158 | 20 | 1.8 | 6 |
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 6 months before flowing out.
- Its catchment drains 2,378 km² of land.
- About 50 m³ of water flow out every second, on average.
- Its shoreline is 4.3 times longer than a circle of the same area: plenty of bays and inlets.
Around the shore
What's around Lake Chelan
Counted within 1.5 km of the shoreline in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit.
- 15beaches and swimming spots
Minneapolis Beach, Swim Area, Wading Area and 12 more
- 25campsites
Weaver Point, Lakeview Campground, Meadow Creek Shelter, Lucerne Campground, Safety Harbor Campground and 20 more
- 3boat hire and water-sport clubs
Lakerider, Shoreline Watercraft & Boat Rentals
- 21marinas and slipways
Lake Chelan Yacht Club, Harris Marina, Chelan Bay Marina, Lakeshore Marina, Manson Bay Marina and 16 more
- 8ferry piers
Chelan, Lucerne, Moore Point (flag), Field's Point Landing, Stehekin and 3 more
- 6viewpoints
- 17hotels, B&Bs and chalets
Campbell's Resort, Riverwalk Inn, Chelan House B&B, GrandView on the Lake, Midtowner Motel and 12 more
- —fishing spots
- 31restaurants and cafés
Towns on the shore
- Chelan4,060 people
- Granite Falls2,868 people
- Manson1,468 people
Nearest airport with scheduled flights: Pangborn Memorial Airport (EAT), 83 km in a straight line.
OpenStreetMap 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 | -2.5 | -1.7 | 0.9 | 4.3 | 12.0 | 16.5 | 21.1 | 20.6 | 16.0 | 8.3 | 1.1 | -3.2 |
| 2020 | +0.8 | +0.5 | −1.0 | −0.5 | +0.9 | −1.4 | −0.8 | −0.1 | +2.3 | +0.6 | +0.4 | +1.5 |
| 2021 | +0.5 | −2.0 | +0.4 | +0.2 | +0.6 | +4.2 | +2.6 | −0.4 | −0.1 | −1.3 | +0.6 | −0.6 |
| 2022 | +1.1 | +0.6 | +1.3 | −2.4 | −3.7 | −0.5 | +1.8 | +2.9 | +2.6 | +5.6 | −2.8 | −1.2 |
| 2023 | −0.1 | −1.0 | −1.9 | −1.2 | +3.9 | +2.1 | +1.2 | +0.9 | ±0.0 | +1.4 | −0.1 | +2.5 |
| 2024 | −1.4 | +0.8 | +0.9 | +1.2 | −0.6 | −0.7 | +2.9 | +0.4 | +1.0 | −1.1 | −1.7 | +1.4 |
| 2025 | −0.4 | −2.3 | −0.4 | +0.1 | −0.3 | +0.6 | −1.5 | −0.3 | +1.5 | −2.5 | −0.9 | +2.1 |
+1 warmer than usual −1 cooler than usual
Nearby
More lakes nearby
United States83.8 km² · 143 km away22°maxLake SammamishUnited States18.7 km² · 132 km away23°maxLake UnionUnited States1.8 km² · 147 km away23°maxFranklin D. Roosevelt LakeUnited States269 km² · 174 km away21°maxHarrison Lake
Canada222 km² · 182 km away20°maxOkanagan LakeCanada349 km² · 240 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 (Q1115201) · 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.
