Reservoir · United States
Lake of the Ozarks
Reservoir in central Missouri, United States
- Area
- 176km²
- Average depth
- 19m
- Elevation
- 202m a.s.l.
- Shoreline
- 887km
- Volume
- 3.3km³
Lake of the Ozarks is a reservoir in United States. It covers 176 km². On average it is 19 m deep. Its surface lies 202 m above sea level.
Plan your visit
Stay, sail and get there
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The water
How warm is Lake of the Ozarks?
The water is warmest in July, around 28 °C at the surface, and coldest in February, around 3 °C. The surface averages 20 °C or more from June to October: comfortable for most swimmers.
It does not normally freeze in winter.
On the shore, afternoons reach 33 °C on average in July and 4 °C in January. The driest month is January (59 mm of rain), the wettest May (138 mm).
Average surface temperature measured by the Landsat 8 satellite between 2013 and 2021 at the point furthest from the shore (76 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 | 4 | 5 | 4 | -6 | 59 | 7 | 4.4 | 10 |
| February | 3 | 4 | 6 | -4 | 61 | 7 | 4.8 | 10 |
| March | 6 | 9 | 13 | 1 | 97 | 11 | 5.4 | 10 |
| April | 13 | 16 | 20 | 7 | 124 | 12 | 6.8 | 9 |
| May | 20 | 23 | 24 | 13 | 138 | 15 | 7.5 | 7 |
| June | 26 | 28 | 30 | 18 | 112 | 13 | 9.2 | 6 |
| July | 28 | 29 | 33 | 20 | 108 | 13 | 9.3 | 6 |
| August | 28 | 29 | 32 | 19 | 119 | 12 | 8.2 | 6 |
| September | 26 | 27 | 28 | 14 | 92 | 10 | 7.8 | 6 |
| October | 21 | 24 | 20 | 7 | 97 | 9 | 6.1 | 8 |
| November | 14 | 18 | 13 | 2 | 77 | 9 | 5.0 | 8 |
| December | 8 | 11 | 6 | -3 | 63 | 7 | 4.1 | 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 3 months before flowing out.
- Its catchment drains 36,189 km² of land.
- About 371 m³ of water flow out every second, on average.
- Its shoreline is 18.9 times longer than a circle of the same area: plenty of bays and inlets.
Around the shore
What's around Lake of the Ozarks
Counted within 1.5 km of the shoreline in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit.
- 9beaches and swimming spots
Grand Glaize Beach and 8 more
- 27campsites
Scalawags RV Park, Coconuts RV Resort, Pin Oak Hollow Primitive Campground, Denali RV Resort & Marina, Westside RV Park and 22 more
- 3boat hire and water-sport clubs
Scooters Boat Rental, Paradise Marina and Watersports
- 535marinas and slipways
Pa He Tsi Boat Ramp, Grand Glaize Boat Ramp, Coffman Beach Access Boat Ramp, Gravois Mills Access Boat Ramp, Wigwam School Access and 530 more
- —ferry piers
- 7viewpoints
Whispering Dell Overlook, Lee C. Fine Memorial Airport Viewing Area and 5 more
- 87hotels, B&Bs and chalets
Days Inn by Wyndham, Hawk's Nest Lodge, Summerset Inn Resort, Ozark Inn & Suites Hotel, Lake Lighthouse Inn and 82 more
- —fishing spots
- 80restaurants and cafés
Towns on the shore
- Osage Beach4,433 people
- Riverview3,014 people
- Four Seasons2,217 people
- Warsaw2,100 people
- Lake Ozark1,761 people
Nearest airport with scheduled flights: Waynesville-St. Robert Regional Airport-Forney Field (TBN), 75 km in a straight line.
Car hire at SGF airport (Springfield)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 | 4.2 | 6.5 | 13.3 | 19.6 | 24.2 | 29.5 | 32.7 | 31.9 | 27.6 | 20.1 | 13.1 | 6.5 |
| 2020 | +0.8 | −0.3 | +1.7 | −1.5 | −2.2 | −0.1 | −0.1 | −0.4 | +0.1 | −1.0 | +1.7 | +1.0 |
| 2021 | −0.5 | −5.1 | +2.1 | −1.4 | −2.0 | +0.1 | −1.6 | +1.4 | +2.8 | +1.4 | +0.3 | +6.9 |
| 2022 | −0.7 | +0.1 | +0.7 | −1.5 | +0.2 | +1.2 | +3.3 | +0.9 | +1.6 | +1.2 | −1.1 | −0.4 |
| 2023 | +3.5 | +4.3 | −0.6 | +0.6 | +1.9 | +3.4 | +1.9 | ±0.0 | +2.5 | +1.7 | +2.2 | +3.8 |
| 2024 | −1.8 | +6.7 | +3.8 | +1.6 | +1.7 | +0.9 | −2.1 | +0.5 | +1.3 | +5.1 | +1.7 | +2.1 |
| 2025 | −2.0 | −0.5 | +4.3 | +1.0 | −1.5 | −0.7 | +0.3 | +1.6 | +3.0 | +2.9 | +1.8 | +2.7 |
+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 (Q1801120) · 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.
