Reservoir · United States
Lake Mead
Reservoir on the Colorado River, Nevada and Arizona in the United States
- Area
- 581km²
- Max depth
- 162m
- Average depth
- 63m
- Elevation
- 372m a.s.l.
- Shoreline
- 759km
- Volume
- 36.7km³
Lake Mead is a reservoir in United States. It covers 581 km². On average it is 63 m deep, and 162 m at its deepest point. Its surface lies 372 m above sea level.
Plan your visit
Stay, sail and get there
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The water
How warm is Lake Mead?
The water is warmest in August, around 28 °C at the surface, and coldest in January, around 12 °C. The surface averages 20 °C or more from May to October: comfortable for most swimmers.
It does not normally freeze in winter.
On the shore, afternoons reach 40 °C on average in July and 12 °C in December. The driest month is June (2 mm of rain), the wettest February (26 mm).
Average surface temperature measured by the Landsat 8 satellite between 2013 and 2021 at the point furthest from the shore (115 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 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 2 | 21 | 4 | 7.3 | 10 |
| February | 13 | 13 | 16 | 3 | 26 | 5 | 8.2 | 11 |
| March | 15 | 16 | 21 | 7 | 15 | 4 | 9.9 | 12 |
| April | 18 | 19 | 26 | 11 | 10 | 2 | 11.5 | 14 |
| May | 21 | 23 | 32 | 16 | 5 | 2 | 13.0 | 14 |
| June | 25 | 26 | 38 | 22 | 2 | 0 | 14.2 | 15 |
| July | 28 | 28 | 40 | 26 | 22 | 5 | 12.4 | 13 |
| August | 28 | 28 | 38 | 25 | 19 | 4 | 11.9 | 13 |
| September | 26 | 27 | 35 | 21 | 12 | 3 | 11.3 | 12 |
| October | 22 | 24 | 27 | 13 | 16 | 2 | 9.6 | 11 |
| November | 18 | 20 | 19 | 7 | 16 | 2 | 8.1 | 10 |
| December | 14 | 15 | 12 | 2 | 20 | 3 | 6.7 | 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 24 months before flowing out.
- Its catchment drains 424,018 km² of land.
- About 587 m³ of water flow out every second, on average.
- Its shoreline is 8.9 times longer than a circle of the same area: plenty of bays and inlets.
Around the shore
What's around Lake Mead
Counted within 1.5 km of the shoreline in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit.
- 7beaches and swimming spots
Boulder Beach, Engine Beach, Ann Marguret Beach, Old Swim Beach, Belsmeir Beach and 2 more
- 13campsites
Government Wash Dispersed Camping Area, Overton Wildlife Management Area Campground, Echo Bay Upper Campground, Las Vegas Bay Campground, Boulder Beach Campground and 8 more
- —boat hire and water-sport clubs
- 16marinas and slipways
Pearce Ferry Take-Out, Hemenway Harbor Launch Ramp, Boulder Harbor Launch Ramp (Closed), Lake Mead Marina, Callville Bay Marina and 11 more
- —ferry piers
- 15viewpoints
Hoover Dam Lookout, Lakeview Overlook, Visitor Center Viewpoint, Grand Canyon, 33 Hole Overlook and 10 more
- 2hotels, B&Bs and chalets
Temple Bar Resort, Echo Bay Resort
- —fishing spots
- 2restaurants and cafés
Nearest airport with scheduled flights: Boulder City Municipal Airport (BLD), 40 km in a straight line.
Car hire at LAS airport (Las Vegas)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 | 13.5 | 15.9 | 21.1 | 25.6 | 31.6 | 38.3 | 39.9 | 38.5 | 34.8 | 26.9 | 19.3 | 12.5 |
| 2020 | +0.3 | ±0.0 | −2.9 | −0.5 | +1.8 | −0.9 | +1.9 | +2.9 | +2.2 | +3.5 | +0.8 | +1.4 |
| 2021 | +0.1 | +0.9 | −1.4 | +2.6 | +1.2 | +2.0 | −0.8 | +1.0 | +1.2 | −1.7 | +3.6 | +1.3 |
| 2022 | +0.3 | +0.6 | +1.1 | +2.1 | +0.7 | +0.7 | ±0.0 | −1.3 | +1.0 | +1.7 | −3.9 | +0.6 |
| 2023 | −1.9 | −1.8 | −4.7 | +0.6 | +0.3 | −3.1 | +3.5 | ±0.0 | −1.3 | +1.8 | +0.6 | +3.7 |
| 2024 | +0.2 | −0.1 | −1.9 | +0.6 | +0.8 | +2.6 | +3.8 | +1.2 | +2.4 | +4.6 | −1.3 | +4.6 |
| 2025 | −0.3 | +3.3 | +0.2 | +1.3 | +0.6 | ±0.0 | +0.2 | +2.0 | −1.0 | +0.7 | +2.0 | +4.4 |
+1 warmer than usual −1 cooler than usual
About 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 (Q654515) · 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.
