Lake · Nicaragua
Lake Managua
Lago de Managua
Also known as Lake Xolotlán, is a large freshwater lake in the Nicaraguan Depression near Managua and several volcanoes
- Area
- 1,061km²
- Max depth
- 80m
- Average depth
- 8.5m
- Elevation
- 41m a.s.l.
- Shoreline
- 261km
- Volume
- 9.0km³
Lake Managua is a lake in Nicaragua. It covers 1,061 km². On average it is 8.5 m deep, and 80 m at its deepest point. Its surface lies 41 m above sea level.
Plan your visit
Stay, sail and get there
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The water
How warm is Lake Managua?
The water is warmest in October, around 28 °C at the surface, and coldest in February, 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 36 °C on average in April and 29 °C in October. The driest month is January (2 mm of rain), the wettest September (281 mm).
Average surface temperature measured by the Landsat 8 satellite between 2013 and 2021 at the point furthest from the shore (80 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 | 26 | 32 | 20 | 2 | 0 | 8.6 | 21 |
| February | 25 | 25 | 34 | 21 | 2 | 0 | 9.1 | 22 |
| March | 26 | 26 | 36 | 22 | 8 | 1 | 9.5 | 20 |
| April | 26 | 27 | 36 | 24 | 32 | 4 | 8.7 | 17 |
| May | 27 | 27 | 33 | 24 | 192 | 15 | 6.7 | 13 |
| June | 28 | 28 | 30 | 23 | 208 | 18 | 6.6 | 13 |
| July | 28 | 28 | 31 | 22 | 108 | 12 | 6.9 | 16 |
| August | 28 | 28 | 31 | 23 | 157 | 16 | 7.2 | 14 |
| September | 28 | 29 | 30 | 23 | 281 | 21 | 7.0 | 10 |
| October | 28 | 29 | 29 | 22 | 273 | 19 | 6.5 | 10 |
| November | 28 | 28 | 29 | 21 | 58 | 7 | 7.8 | 14 |
| December | 26 | 27 | 31 | 20 | 10 | 1 | 8.3 | 18 |
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 4.2 years before flowing out.
- Its catchment drains 6,197 km² of land.
- About 67 m³ of water flow out every second, on average.
Around the shore
What's around Lake Managua
Counted within 1.5 km of the shoreline in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit.
- 3beaches and swimming spots
- 1campsites
Villa Guadalupe
- —boat hire and water-sport clubs
- —marinas and slipways
- —ferry piers
- 3viewpoints
Mirador Momotombo, Fortaleza
- 33hotels, B&Bs and chalets
Hotel Los Robles, Hotel La Quinta, Auto Hotel Fantasía, Hotel Euro, Hospedaje and 28 more
- —fishing spots
- 82restaurants and cafés
Towns on the shore
- Managua973,087 people
- Mateare61,234 people
- Tipitapa50,000 people
- Ciudad Sandino50,000 people
- Valle San Francisco2,219 people
- San Francisco Libre
Nearest airport with scheduled flights: Augusto C. Sandino (Managua) International Airport (MGA), 34 km in a straight line.
Car hire at MGA airport (Managua)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 | 32.3 | 34.1 | 35.8 | 36.5 | 33.3 | 30.2 | 30.8 | 31.3 | 30.0 | 29.0 | 29.4 | 30.7 |
| 2020 | +0.9 | +0.9 | +0.6 | +1.7 | +0.9 | −0.1 | +0.3 | −0.4 | −0.2 | −0.8 | −1.7 | −2.7 |
| 2021 | −2.9 | −1.4 | −0.9 | −1.3 | +1.5 | +2.0 | ±0.0 | −1.7 | −1.0 | +0.6 | +0.3 | +0.4 |
| 2022 | +0.4 | +0.5 | +0.7 | +0.1 | −1.2 | −1.8 | −1.0 | −1.1 | −1.1 | ±0.0 | −0.7 | −1.2 |
| 2023 | −0.5 | −0.6 | −1.1 | ±0.0 | +2.5 | +1.6 | +0.5 | +1.3 | +2.4 | +0.6 | −0.3 | +0.3 |
| 2024 | +1.0 | +0.5 | +2.1 | +1.5 | +1.2 | −1.2 | −1.2 | −1.4 | −0.5 | −0.1 | −0.8 | −1.9 |
| 2025 | −2.2 | −1.7 | −0.8 | −1.6 | +1.3 | −0.4 | −0.2 | +0.1 | +0.2 | ±0.0 | −0.2 | +0.2 |
+1 warmer than usual −1 cooler than usual
Nearby
More lakes nearby
Costa Rica
El Salvador
HondurasAbout 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 (Q272380) · 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.
