Lake · DR Congo · Uganda
Lake Edward
Lake in Uganda and smallest of the African Great Lakes
- Area
- 2,242km²
- Max depth
- 117m
- Average depth
- 34m
- Elevation
- 912m a.s.l.
- Shoreline
- 307km
- Volume
- 76.7km³
Lake Edward is a lake in DR Congo. It covers 2,242 km². On average it is 34 m deep, and 117 m at its deepest point. Its surface lies 912 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 Lake Edward?
The water is warmest in December, around 25 °C at the surface, and coldest in January, around 25 °C. The surface averages 20 °C or more from January to December: comfortable for most swimmers.
It does not normally freeze in winter.
On the shore, afternoons reach 28 °C on average in February and 25 °C in November. The driest month is July (61 mm of rain), the wettest October (162 mm).
Average surface temperature measured by the Landsat 8 satellite between 2013 and 2021 at the point furthest from the shore (84 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 | 25 | 25 | 27 | 18 | 78 | 16 | 6.2 | 8 |
| February | 25 | 25 | 28 | 18 | 86 | 15 | 6.3 | 8 |
| March | 25 | 25 | 27 | 18 | 137 | 23 | 5.8 | 8 |
| April | 25 | 25 | 26 | 18 | 125 | 23 | 6.0 | 8 |
| May | 25 | 25 | 26 | 18 | 107 | 22 | 6.7 | 7 |
| June | 25 | 25 | 26 | 18 | 69 | 13 | 6.6 | 6 |
| July | 25 | 25 | 26 | 18 | 61 | 11 | 6.5 | 6 |
| August | 25 | 25 | 26 | 18 | 108 | 18 | 5.9 | 6 |
| September | 25 | 25 | 26 | 18 | 141 | 22 | 6.3 | 7 |
| October | 25 | 25 | 25 | 18 | 162 | 26 | 5.9 | 7 |
| November | 25 | 25 | 25 | 18 | 154 | 26 | 5.7 | 7 |
| December | 25 | 25 | 26 | 18 | 100 | 20 | 5.9 | 8 |
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 12 years before flowing out.
- Its catchment drains 26,839 km² of land.
- About 195 m³ of water flow out every second, on average.
Around the shore
What's around Lake Edward
Counted within 1.5 km of the shoreline in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit.
- 2beaches and swimming spots
beach landing site, Rwenshama Beach
- 2campsites
Mweya Campsite 3, Kisenyi Lake Retreat
- —boat hire and water-sport clubs
- 10marinas and slipways
Landing Site, Mweya Lodge Pier, Mweya Lodge Landing Site, UWA Mweya Landing site, Mweya Landing Site and 5 more
- 2ferry piers
- 3viewpoints
Pelican Point
- 8hotels, B&Bs and chalets
Mweya Hostel, Hippo Hill Safari Lodge, Excellence Hotel, Logement laïc Par la Grace, Hôtel Vukuliro and 3 more
- —fishing spots
- 2restaurants and cafés
Nearest airport with scheduled flights: Savannah Airstrip (KHX), 47 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 | 26.7 | 27.5 | 26.9 | 26.0 | 25.8 | 25.9 | 26.5 | 26.3 | 26.0 | 25.3 | 24.8 | 25.6 |
| 2020 | −1.2 | −1.1 | −1.1 | −1.0 | −0.7 | −1.7 | −2.3 | −1.2 | −0.5 | −0.8 | −0.6 | −0.6 |
| 2021 | −2.0 | −1.4 | −1.2 | −1.0 | −1.0 | −0.4 | −1.1 | −0.2 | −0.7 | +0.3 | −0.1 | −0.7 |
| 2022 | −0.5 | −1.0 | +0.8 | +0.1 | −0.8 | −0.3 | +0.3 | −1.3 | −1.7 | −0.8 | −1.3 | −1.2 |
| 2023 | −0.4 | +0.9 | −0.7 | −0.5 | +0.6 | +0.3 | +1.8 | +3.3 | +1.8 | +1.1 | +0.3 | +0.1 |
| 2024 | ±0.0 | +0.2 | +1.9 | +0.5 | +1.4 | +2.2 | +0.6 | +1.4 | +2.3 | +0.5 | −0.5 | −0.4 |
| 2025 | +0.1 | +1.5 | +1.5 | +1.1 | +0.7 | +1.4 | +1.4 | −0.6 | +1.4 | +1.0 | +2.2 | +2.4 |
+1 warmer than usual −1 cooler than usual
RwandaAbout 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 (Q125211) · 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.
