Lake · United States
Lake McDonald
McDonald
Lake in Flathead County, Montana
- Area
- 27.1km²
- Max depth
- 143m
- Average depth
- 48m
- Elevation
- 958m a.s.l.
- Shoreline
- 33km
- Volume
- 1.3km³
Lake McDonald is a lake in United States. It covers 27.1 km². On average it is 48 m deep, and 143 m at its deepest point. Its surface lies 958 m above sea level.
Plan your visit
Stay, sail and get there
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The water
How warm is Lake McDonald?
The water is warmest in July, around 19 °C at the surface, and coldest in January, around 0 °C. It rarely averages 20 °C, but it stays above 17 °C from July to August: brisk, refreshing swimming.
The lake usually freezes over for about 85 days a year, from around 22 December to 16 March.
On the shore, afternoons reach 22 °C on average in August and -6 °C in December. The driest month is July (34 mm of rain), the wettest June (114 mm).
Average surface temperature measured by the Landsat 8 satellite between 2013 and 2021 at the point furthest from the shore (108 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 | — | -6 | -13 | 111 | 21 | 3.7 | 10 |
| February | Ice | — | -5 | -14 | 90 | 18 | 5.9 | 9 |
| March | Ice | — | -2 | -9 | 104 | 20 | 6.4 | 10 |
| April | 5 | 7 | 3 | -5 | 85 | 18 | 7.2 | 8 |
| May | 10 | 13 | 11 | 1 | 92 | 18 | 8.1 | 8 |
| June | 16 | 18 | 16 | 5 | 114 | 18 | 9.4 | 8 |
| July | 19 | 20 | 21 | 9 | 34 | 9 | 12.2 | 7 |
| August | 19 | 20 | 22 | 8 | 39 | 8 | 10.0 | 7 |
| September | 16 | 18 | 16 | 3 | 57 | 11 | 7.6 | 8 |
| October | 11 | 14 | 6 | -3 | 86 | 16 | 5.3 | 9 |
| November | 5 | 8 | -1 | -8 | 110 | 20 | 3.5 | 10 |
| December | 1 | 3 | -6 | -14 | 108 | 20 | 3.0 | 10 |
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 8.3 years before flowing out.
- Its catchment drains 444 km² of land.
- About 4.9 m³ of water flow out every second, on average.
Around the shore
What's around Lake McDonald
Counted within 1.5 km of the shoreline in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit.
- 4beaches and swimming spots
- 4campsites
McDonald Lake Campground, Sprague Creek, Apgar Campground, Fish Creek
- 1boat hire and water-sport clubs
Glacier Park Boat Company Ticket Office
- —marinas and slipways
- —ferry piers
- 2viewpoints
Rocky Point
- 5hotels, B&Bs and chalets
Lake McDonald Lodge, Apgar Village Lodge & Cabins, Glacier Bear Retreat, Village Inn At Apgar, Stewart Motel
- —fishing spots
- 3restaurants and cafés
Nearest airport with scheduled flights: Glacier Park International Airport (FCA), 41 km in a straight line.
Car hire at FCA airport (Kalispell)Discover Cars · Affiliate linkOpenStreetMap is built by volunteers: when a number is low, it may just mean nobody has mapped it yet.
Photos
Seen by visitors
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 | -5.6 | -5.4 | -1.5 | 3.0 | 10.8 | 15.6 | 21.4 | 21.6 | 15.8 | 6.4 | -1.4 | -6.3 |
| 2020 | +2.1 | +1.2 | −0.5 | −1.9 | +0.3 | −0.8 | −1.7 | +0.1 | +1.6 | −1.3 | +0.1 | +2.1 |
| 2021 | +1.4 | −3.7 | +1.5 | +1.4 | −0.1 | +3.9 | +4.4 | −0.3 | +1.1 | +2.0 | +2.5 | −0.2 |
| 2022 | −0.1 | −0.5 | +0.6 | −3.2 | −1.8 | −0.7 | +0.6 | +2.2 | +3.1 | +5.1 | −4.5 | −2.1 |
| 2023 | +0.6 | +0.1 | −2.2 | −0.1 | +4.9 | +2.2 | +1.4 | +1.1 | −0.2 | +1.3 | +0.4 | +4.8 |
| 2024 | −1.1 | +2.8 | +0.5 | +2.8 | −0.5 | −0.1 | +2.1 | −0.5 | +2.6 | +3.6 | +0.2 | +3.5 |
| 2025 | −2.1 | −3.5 | +1.8 | +1.1 | +3.2 | +1.9 | −1.2 | −0.6 | +4.7 | +0.5 | +3.2 | +4.6 |
+1 warmer than usual −1 cooler than usual
Nearby
More lakes nearby
United States15.0 km² · 32 km away16°maxFlathead LakeUnited States487 km² · 75 km away20°maxLake Pend OreilleUnited States360 km² · 185 km away21°maxKootenay Lake
Canada422 km² · 226 km away19°maxCoeur D'Alene LakeUnited States126 km² · 244 km away22°maxBerkeley PitUnited States1.1 km² · 305 km away25°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 (Q3178685) · 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.
