Lake · Canada · United States
Lake of the Woods
Large glacial lake in the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario and the U.S. state of Minnesota
- Area
- 3,473km²
- Max depth
- 64m
- Average depth
- 11m
- Elevation
- 320m a.s.l.
- Shoreline
- 5,177km
- Volume
- 37.0km³
Lake of the Woods is a lake in Canada. It covers 3,473 km². On average it is 11 m deep, and 64 m at its deepest point. Its surface lies 320 m above sea level.
Plan your visit
Stay, sail and get there
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The water
How warm is Lake of the Woods?
The water is warmest in August, around 22 °C at the surface, and coldest in January, around 0 °C. The surface averages 20 °C or more from July to August: comfortable for most swimmers.
The lake usually freezes over for about 154 days a year, from around 12 November to 14 April.
On the shore, afternoons reach 26 °C on average in July and -11 °C in January. The driest month is February (17 mm of rain), the wettest June (105 mm).
Average surface temperature measured by the Landsat 8 satellite between 2013 and 2021 at the point furthest from the shore (73 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 | — | -11 | -21 | 20 | 6 | 3.7 | 14 |
| February | Ice | — | -9 | -20 | 17 | 5 | 5.8 | 15 |
| March | Ice | — | 0 | -9 | 27 | 6 | 6.7 | 16 |
| April | 1 | 5 | 10 | 0 | 37 | 8 | 7.5 | 18 |
| May | 9 | 12 | 17 | 8 | 82 | 14 | 7.7 | 18 |
| June | 16 | 19 | 23 | 14 | 105 | 16 | 7.9 | 16 |
| July | 21 | 22 | 26 | 17 | 81 | 15 | 9.1 | 15 |
| August | 22 | 22 | 25 | 15 | 63 | 12 | 7.8 | 16 |
| September | 18 | 20 | 19 | 10 | 73 | 12 | 6.0 | 17 |
| October | 10 | 15 | 9 | 2 | 56 | 10 | 3.7 | 17 |
| November | Ice | — | 0 | -7 | 23 | 7 | 2.4 | 15 |
| December | Ice | — | -8 | -17 | 23 | 7 | 2.4 | 14 |
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 69,314 km² of land.
- About 450 m³ of water flow out every second, on average.
- Its shoreline is 24.8 times longer than a circle of the same area: plenty of bays and inlets.
Around the shore
What's around Lake of the Woods
Counted within 1.5 km of the shoreline in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit.
- 20beaches and swimming spots
Coney Island Beach, Keewatin Beach, Norman Beach and 17 more
- 25campsites
Harris Hill Resort - Lake of the Woods, Anicinabe Park, Pye's Landing Marina and Campground, Group Camp, Anicinabe RV Park & Campground and 20 more
- 2boat hire and water-sport clubs
Rebetoy's House Boat Rental, Zig Zag Yacht Club
- 34marinas and slipways
Darlington Bay (Keewatin) Boat Launch, Rockeries Marina, Devil's Gap Marina, Swensons Marina, Pye's Landing Marina and Campground and 29 more
- —ferry piers
- 4viewpoints
Bawazigawin, Voyageur Lookout
- 24hotels, B&Bs and chalets
Zippel Bay Resort, Whitefish Bay Camp, Comfort Inn, Motlong's Tourist Camp, Crawford's Camp and 19 more
- —fishing spots
- 22restaurants and cafés
Towns on the shore
- Kenora15,096 people
- Warroad1,799 people
Nearest airport with scheduled flights: Kenora Airport (YQK), 95 km in a straight line.
OpenStreetMap 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 | -11.3 | -8.9 | 0.2 | 9.5 | 16.8 | 22.6 | 25.9 | 24.6 | 18.9 | 9.3 | 0.3 | -8.4 |
| 2020 | +2.1 | +1.3 | +1.6 | −2.2 | −0.2 | +1.2 | +0.3 | +0.7 | −1.8 | −3.6 | +1.1 | +3.1 |
| 2021 | +4.4 | −3.1 | +5.4 | −0.5 | +1.3 | +3.9 | +3.1 | +1.5 | +2.2 | +4.4 | −0.1 | +0.2 |
| 2022 | −3.1 | −3.0 | −1.7 | −5.0 | −0.2 | −0.3 | −1.4 | +0.1 | +0.4 | +1.0 | −1.1 | −1.8 |
| 2023 | +2.4 | +2.0 | −2.6 | −2.7 | +4.0 | +2.9 | −1.4 | +0.1 | +2.6 | +1.4 | −0.1 | +6.8 |
| 2024 | +2.8 | +7.4 | −0.4 | +1.5 | +0.1 | −0.7 | −0.2 | +0.2 | +4.6 | +3.8 | +2.6 | +0.9 |
| 2025 | −0.3 | −1.7 | +1.6 | −0.8 | +3.7 | +1.1 | −0.9 | +0.2 | +2.6 | +3.9 | +1.1 | −1.7 |
+1 warmer than usual −1 cooler than usual
Nearby
More lakes nearby
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 (Q845876) · 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.
