Reservoir · Finland
Lake Inari
Lake in Inari, Finland
- Area
- 1,098km²
- Max depth
- 92m
- Average depth
- 14m
- Elevation
- 105m a.s.l.
- Shoreline
- 1,604km
- Volume
- 15.7km³
Lake Inari is a reservoir in Finland. It covers 1,098 km². On average it is 14 m deep, and 92 m at its deepest point. Its surface lies 105 m above sea level.
Plan your visit
Stay, sail and get there
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The water
How warm is Lake Inari?
The water is warmest in August, around 14 °C at the surface, and coldest in January, around 0 °C. Even at its warmest, the surface stays below 17 °C on average: this is cold water.
The lake usually freezes over for about 179 days a year, from around 17 November to 14 May.
On the shore, afternoons reach 17 °C on average in July and -10 °C in January. The driest month is February (32 mm of rain), the wettest July (112 mm).
Average surface temperature measured by the Landsat 8 satellite between 2013 and 2021 at the point furthest from the shore (150 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 | Ice | — | -10 | -16 | 38 | 12 | 0.7 | 13 |
| February | Ice | — | -10 | -15 | 32 | 10 | 2.7 | 14 |
| March | Ice | — | -5 | -12 | 33 | 10 | 6.8 | 14 |
| April | Ice | — | 0 | -5 | 43 | 12 | 8.6 | 12 |
| May | 1 | 3 | 7 | 1 | 78 | 17 | 7.8 | 12 |
| June | 7 | 11 | 13 | 6 | 98 | 19 | 7.0 | 10 |
| July | 14 | 15 | 17 | 10 | 112 | 20 | 6.3 | 10 |
| August | 14 | 15 | 15 | 8 | 103 | 19 | 4.5 | 9 |
| September | 10 | 12 | 9 | 4 | 70 | 15 | 3.0 | 10 |
| October | 6 | 8 | 1 | -2 | 57 | 15 | 1.3 | 10 |
| November | 1 | 3 | -5 | -10 | 43 | 11 | 0.7 | 11 |
| December | Ice | — | -8 | -13 | 42 | 12 | — | 13 |
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 4.9 years before flowing out.
- Its catchment drains 13,050 km² of land.
- About 102 m³ of water flow out every second, on average.
- Its shoreline is 13.7 times longer than a circle of the same area: plenty of bays and inlets.
Around the shore
What's around Lake Inari
Counted within 1.5 km of the shoreline in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit.
- 5beaches and swimming spots
- 7campsites
Matkapaikka Jounila, Ukonjärven Lomakylä, Hietajoki, Lomakylä Inari, Uruniemi Camping and 2 more
- 1boat hire and water-sport clubs
- 24marinas and slipways
Venesatama, Kalasatama, Veneenlaskupaikka, Nanguniemi venesatama, Tyllylahti and 19 more
- —ferry piers
- 6viewpoints
Näköalapaikka, Mielikköjärvi lintutorni, Juurakovuopajan lintutoni and 3 more
- 46hotels, B&Bs and chalets
Guest House Inari, Wilderness Hotel Nellim, Hillavilla, Honkamökki, Mimmin mökki and 41 more
- —fishing spots
- 7restaurants and cafés
Towns on the shore
- Inari7,049 people
Nearest airport with scheduled flights: Ivalo Airport (IVL), 48 km in a straight line.
Car hire at IVL airport (Ivalo)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 | -10.0 | -9.5 | -4.8 | 0.3 | 7.4 | 13.1 | 17.2 | 14.6 | 8.9 | 0.7 | -5.3 | -7.6 |
| 2020 | +1.8 | +2.5 | +1.5 | −1.2 | −2.4 | +2.5 | +0.1 | ±0.0 | +1.0 | +1.6 | +3.7 | +0.4 |
| 2021 | −1.6 | −1.0 | +0.8 | +0.5 | −2.0 | +3.3 | +0.6 | −0.5 | −1.7 | −0.1 | −1.1 | −2.6 |
| 2022 | +2.7 | +1.3 | +2.2 | −0.5 | −0.1 | +2.4 | +1.4 | +2.4 | −0.5 | +2.0 | +1.2 | −1.8 |
| 2023 | +3.3 | +4.0 | −1.8 | +0.5 | +2.5 | +1.8 | −0.9 | +2.7 | +2.4 | −1.4 | −2.3 | −3.8 |
| 2024 | −0.8 | +1.1 | +1.6 | −2.4 | +1.1 | +3.9 | +2.9 | +4.1 | +3.7 | +2.2 | +3.0 | +0.7 |
| 2025 | +0.9 | +5.0 | +1.6 | −1.0 | −1.0 | −0.8 | +2.1 | +1.0 | +3.2 | +2.5 | −0.5 | +0.6 |
+1 warmer than usual −1 cooler than usual
Norway
RussiaAbout 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 (Q203137) · 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.
