Glacial lake · Italy
Lake Como
Lake in Lombardy, Italy
- Area
- 145km²
- Max depth
- 410m
- Average depth
- 103m
- Elevation
- 198m a.s.l.
- Shoreline
- 186km
- Volume
- 14.9km³
Lake Como is a glacial lake in Italy. It covers 145 km². On average it is 103 m deep, and 410 m at its deepest point. Its surface lies 198 m above sea level.
Plan your visit
Stay, sail and get there
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The water
How warm is Lake Como?
The water is warmest in August, around 22 °C at the surface, and coldest in February, around 6 °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 January (57 mm of rain), the wettest November (149 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 | 7 | 7 | 2 | -6 | 57 | 8 | 4.2 | 7 |
| February | 6 | 7 | 3 | -4 | 63 | 7 | 5.5 | 7 |
| March | 8 | 9 | 8 | 0 | 72 | 9 | 6.4 | 7 |
| April | 11 | 12 | 12 | 4 | 105 | 13 | 5.9 | 7 |
| May | 15 | 17 | 17 | 8 | 140 | 16 | 5.7 | 7 |
| June | 19 | 21 | 21 | 13 | 123 | 15 | 7.4 | 7 |
| July | 22 | 23 | 23 | 15 | 111 | 15 | 7.9 | 6 |
| August | 22 | 23 | 22 | 15 | 130 | 15 | 7.1 | 6 |
| September | 20 | 21 | 18 | 10 | 105 | 12 | 6.1 | 6 |
| October | 16 | 18 | 13 | 6 | 116 | 12 | 4.7 | 6 |
| November | 12 | 14 | 8 | 1 | 149 | 11 | 3.4 | 6 |
| December | 9 | 10 | 3 | -4 | 78 | 10 | 3.5 | 7 |
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 3.0 years before flowing out.
- Its catchment drains 4,605 km² of land.
- About 160 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 Como
Counted within 1.5 km of the shoreline in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit.
- 95beaches and swimming spots
Rapa Nui, S.Biagio, Il Moregallo, Lido di Faggeto, Lido di Dongo and 90 more
- 56campsites
Area Sosta Camper Lecco, Miralago, Camping Boothill, Camping La Torre, Campeggio Tourisport and 51 more
- 27boat hire and water-sport clubs
Wassersportcenter Domaso, Canottieri Moto Guzzi, Comolakeartists, Jordan'Surf & Kitezoo, Jordan'Surf & Kitezoo Shop and 22 more
- 119marinas and slipways
Argegno, Mandello del Lario, Lierna, Nautica Lierna, Varenna and 114 more
- 58ferry piers
Argegno, Limonta, Onno, Vassena, Bellagio and 53 more
- 195viewpoints
Punta di Spartivento, Belvedere parco del Valentino, Belvedere della Val dell'Arna, Croce del Gallo, Punta Geno and 190 more
- 514hotels, B&Bs and chalets
Hotel Belvedere, Park Hotel, Bar Riposo, Alla Torre del Barbarossa, Hotel Argegno and 509 more
- —fishing spots
- 888restaurants and cafés
Towns on the shore
- Como84,808 people
- Lecco46,580 people
- Calolziocorte13,794 people
- Valmadrera-Caserta11,609 people
- Mandello del Lario10,255 people
- Colico Piano7,204 people
- Olginate6,979 people
- Cernobbio6,790 people
Nearest airport with scheduled flights: Lugano Airport (LUG), 27 km in a straight line.
Car hire at BGY airport (Orio al Serio)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 | 1.8 | 3.4 | 7.9 | 12.4 | 16.6 | 20.9 | 22.9 | 22.3 | 18.2 | 13.3 | 7.6 | 2.7 |
| 2020 | +2.9 | +3.0 | −0.3 | +1.4 | +0.9 | −1.2 | +0.1 | +0.7 | +0.8 | −1.1 | +1.7 | −1.1 |
| 2021 | −1.4 | −0.2 | ±0.0 | −2.5 | −1.8 | +0.9 | −0.1 | −0.2 | +1.0 | −0.3 | +0.1 | +0.8 |
| 2022 | +2.4 | +2.8 | ±0.0 | −0.2 | +1.9 | +2.9 | +3.3 | +1.8 | −0.3 | +3.7 | +1.1 | +1.0 |
| 2023 | +1.8 | +3.3 | +1.7 | −0.5 | −0.3 | +0.5 | +1.0 | +1.8 | +2.7 | +3.4 | ±0.0 | +1.9 |
| 2024 | +2.2 | +4.4 | +1.3 | +0.5 | −1.4 | −0.6 | +1.2 | +2.6 | −0.8 | +1.3 | +1.3 | +2.1 |
| 2025 | +1.2 | +1.5 | +1.1 | +1.4 | +0.1 | +2.6 | −0.1 | +0.8 | +0.3 | −0.4 | ±0.0 | +2.6 |
+1 warmer than usual −1 cooler than usual
Nearby
More lakes nearby
SwitzerlandAbout 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 (Q15523) · 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.
