Lake · United States
Lake Monona
Monona
Lake in Dane County, Wisconsin, USA
- Area
- 13.3km²
- Max depth
- 21m
- Average depth
- 6.6m
- Elevation
- 256m a.s.l.
- Shoreline
- 21km
- Volume
- 0.089km³
Lake Monona is a lake in United States. It covers 13.3 km². On average it is 6.6 m deep, and 21 m at its deepest point. Its surface lies 256 m above sea level.
Plan your visit
Stay, sail and get there
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The water
How warm is Lake Monona?
The water is warmest in July, around 25 °C at the surface, and coldest in January, around 0 °C. The surface averages 20 °C or more from June to September: comfortable for most swimmers.
The lake usually freezes over for about 109 days a year, from around 5 December to 23 March.
On the shore, afternoons reach 28 °C on average in July and -3 °C in January. The driest month is January (36 mm of rain), the wettest June (134 mm).
Average surface temperature measured by the Landsat 8 satellite between 2013 and 2021 at the point furthest from the shore (64 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 | — | -3 | -12 | 36 | 7 | 4.1 | 20 |
| February | Ice | — | -2 | -11 | 41 | 6 | 5.9 | 20 |
| March | Ice | — | 6 | -4 | 59 | 8 | 6.4 | 19 |
| April | 7 | 12 | 14 | 2 | 98 | 11 | 6.3 | 20 |
| May | 16 | 19 | 20 | 8 | 108 | 13 | 7.3 | 17 |
| June | 22 | 24 | 25 | 14 | 134 | 14 | 8.3 | 15 |
| July | 25 | 25 | 28 | 17 | 102 | 13 | 9.1 | 13 |
| August | 25 | 25 | 27 | 16 | 111 | 12 | 7.8 | 13 |
| September | 21 | 23 | 23 | 11 | 93 | 10 | 6.9 | 15 |
| October | 15 | 18 | 15 | 4 | 80 | 9 | 4.8 | 18 |
| November | 6 | 10 | 7 | -2 | 56 | 7 | 3.9 | 18 |
| December | Ice | — | -1 | -9 | 51 | 7 | 2.9 | 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 5 months before flowing out.
- Its catchment drains 729 km² of land.
- About 6.9 m³ of water flow out every second, on average.
Around the shore
What's around Lake Monona
Counted within 1.5 km of the shoreline in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit.
- 23beaches and swimming spots
Olbrich Beach, Bernie's Beach, Vilas Park Beach, B.B. Clarke Beach, Esther Beach and 18 more
- 3campsites
- 4boat hire and water-sport clubs
Rutabaga Paddlesports, Brittingham Boats, Hoofers Sailing Club
- 23marinas and slipways
Winnequah Trail Boat Launch, Law Park Boat Launch and 21 more
- —ferry piers
- 12viewpoints
Monona Terrace Rooftop Terrace, Muir Knoll, Polar Bears, Progress Point and 8 more
- 29hotels, B&Bs and chalets
Wisconsin Union Hotel, Marquette Hotel, The Better Housing Company, Madison Concourse Hotel, AC Hotel Madison Downtown and 24 more
- —fishing spots
- 280restaurants and cafés
Towns on the shore
- Madison280,305 people
- Monona8,164 people
Nearest airport with scheduled flights: Dane County Regional Truax Field (MSN), 9 km in a straight line.
Car hire at MSN airport (Madison)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 | -3.4 | -1.5 | 6.0 | 13.5 | 19.9 | 25.3 | 27.9 | 26.9 | 23.0 | 14.8 | 6.8 | -0.7 |
| 2020 | +2.4 | +0.4 | +0.8 | −1.9 | −1.7 | +0.7 | −0.1 | −0.3 | −2.6 | −2.8 | +2.6 | +1.0 |
| 2021 | +1.1 | −5.2 | +3.1 | +1.0 | +0.1 | +2.7 | +0.8 | +2.1 | +2.4 | +3.2 | −0.2 | +3.3 |
| 2022 | −2.3 | +0.4 | +0.1 | −2.4 | +1.2 | +0.6 | +0.8 | +0.3 | −0.3 | +0.7 | +0.5 | −1.6 |
| 2023 | +3.0 | +3.0 | −1.2 | +0.4 | +1.5 | +1.2 | +1.2 | +2.0 | +2.3 | +1.2 | +0.6 | +4.2 |
| 2024 | +0.1 | +7.0 | +2.5 | +1.2 | +2.1 | +0.2 | −1.6 | −0.7 | +2.5 | +4.1 | +2.1 | +1.2 |
| 2025 | −0.4 | −0.2 | +4.1 | +0.8 | −0.3 | +1.2 | +0.4 | −1.1 | +1.8 | +3.3 | +0.8 | −1.3 |
+1 warmer than usual −1 cooler than usual
Nearby
More lakes nearby
United States41.1 km² · 7 km away25°maxGeneva LakeUnited States21.4 km² · 87 km away24°maxLake WinnebagoUnited States646 km² · 130 km away24°maxLake MichiganUnited States57,727 km² · 196 km away22°maxBde Maka SkaUnited States1.6 km² · 378 km away26°maxLake MinnetonkaUnited States31.1 km² · 394 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 (Q2916757) · 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.
