Lake · Japan
Lake Motosu
Lake in Fujikawaguchiko, Chūbu region, Japan
- Area
- 4.5km²
- Max depth
- 138m
- Average depth
- 28m
- Elevation
- 896m a.s.l.
- Shoreline
- 10km
- Volume
- 0.126km³
Lake Motosu is a lake in Japan. It covers 4.5 km². On average it is 28 m deep, and 138 m at its deepest point. Its surface lies 896 m above sea level.
Plan your visit
Stay, sail and get there
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The water
How warm is Lake Motosu?
The water is warmest in August, around 25 °C at the surface, and coldest in February, around 5 °C. The surface averages 20 °C or more from July to September: comfortable for most swimmers.
It does not normally freeze in winter.
On the shore, afternoons reach 28 °C on average in August and 4 °C in January. The driest month is January (61 mm of rain), the wettest July (209 mm).
Average surface temperature measured by the Landsat 8 satellite between 2013 and 2021 at the point furthest from the shore (71 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 | 6 | 7 | 4 | -6 | 61 | 6 | 6.1 | 9 |
| February | 5 | 5 | 5 | -4 | 71 | 7 | 6.1 | 9 |
| March | 6 | 7 | 9 | -2 | 115 | 10 | 6.1 | 10 |
| April | 9 | 11 | 15 | 4 | 127 | 10 | 6.2 | 10 |
| May | 14 | 17 | 20 | 9 | 140 | 13 | 6.1 | 9 |
| June | 20 | 22 | 23 | 14 | 174 | 16 | 4.2 | 7 |
| July | 24 | 25 | 27 | 18 | 209 | 18 | 4.5 | 8 |
| August | 25 | 25 | 28 | 19 | 159 | 17 | 5.6 | 7 |
| September | 22 | 24 | 24 | 15 | 201 | 15 | 4.6 | 8 |
| October | 18 | 20 | 18 | 9 | 193 | 11 | 4.6 | 8 |
| November | 13 | 15 | 13 | 3 | 85 | 8 | 5.4 | 8 |
| December | 9 | 11 | 6 | -3 | 64 | 7 | 5.8 | 9 |
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 2.6 years before flowing out.
- Its catchment drains 47 km² of land.
- About 1.5 m³ of water flow out every second, on average.
Around the shore
What's around Lake Motosu
Counted within 1.5 km of the shoreline in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit.
- 1beaches and swimming spots
- 6campsites
Motosuko Ikoinomori Campsite, Kōan Tent Village, Motosu Lakeside Campsite and 3 more
- —boat hire and water-sport clubs
- —marinas and slipways
- —ferry piers
- 7viewpoints
Shibazakura Park, Panorama Hill, Fuji view point, Fuji Shiba-sakura Festival Observation Deck, Nakanokura Pass View Point and 2 more
- 5hotels, B&Bs and chalets
Motosu Phoenix Hotel
- —fishing spots
- 5restaurants and cafés
Nearest airport with scheduled flights: Mount Fuji Shizuoka Airport (FSZ), 83 km in a straight line.
Car hire at HND airport (Tokyo)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 | 3.6 | 5.4 | 9.4 | 15.1 | 20.1 | 23.1 | 26.9 | 27.8 | 23.8 | 18.0 | 12.6 | 6.5 |
| 2020 | +2.4 | +1.9 | +1.4 | −1.9 | +0.5 | +1.0 | −2.3 | +1.5 | −0.1 | −0.9 | +1.7 | +0.6 |
| 2021 | +0.6 | +2.0 | +3.6 | +0.6 | +0.1 | −0.3 | −0.5 | −0.5 | −1.3 | +0.5 | ±0.0 | +0.6 |
| 2022 | ±0.0 | −1.5 | +2.0 | +1.0 | −0.4 | +0.3 | +0.3 | −0.1 | +0.6 | −1.0 | +1.5 | −0.2 |
| 2023 | +1.2 | +1.1 | +3.8 | +1.8 | +0.1 | +0.4 | +1.7 | +0.4 | +2.7 | +0.5 | +1.7 | +2.6 |
| 2024 | +2.2 | +2.4 | −0.6 | +2.4 | +0.6 | +0.4 | +2.6 | +0.5 | +2.2 | +2.2 | +1.2 | −0.1 |
| 2025 | +1.1 | −1.0 | +0.8 | +0.9 | −0.3 | +2.5 | +1.6 | +1.7 | +2.4 | +0.6 | +0.4 | +1.8 |
+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 (Q1262329) · 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.
