Lake · Russia · Estonia
Lake Peipus
Lake in Estonia and Russia, including Lake Pihkva
- Area
- 3,489km²
- Max depth
- 18m
- Average depth
- 7.2m
- Elevation
- 28m a.s.l.
- Shoreline
- 732km
- Volume
- 25.1km³
Lake Peipus is a lake in Russia. It covers 3,489 km². On average it is 7.2 m deep, and 18 m at its deepest point. Its surface lies 28 m above sea level.
Plan your visit
Stay, sail and get there
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The water
How warm is Lake Peipus?
The water is warmest in July, around 20 °C at the surface, and coldest in January, around 0 °C. The surface averages 20 °C or more in July: comfortable for most swimmers.
The lake usually freezes over for about 128 days a year, from around 24 November to 31 March.
On the shore, afternoons reach 22 °C on average in July and -5 °C in January. The driest month is March (44 mm of rain), the wettest June (101 mm).
Average surface temperature measured by the Landsat 8 satellite between 2013 and 2021 at the point furthest from the shore (135 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 | — | -5 | -11 | 53 | 14 | 0.4 | 16 |
| February | Ice | — | -4 | -11 | 47 | 11 | 1.9 | 16 |
| March | Ice | — | 0 | -6 | 44 | 11 | 4.8 | 17 |
| April | 4 | 7 | 8 | 2 | 48 | 11 | 6.7 | 16 |
| May | 11 | 14 | 16 | 8 | 64 | 12 | 8.7 | 16 |
| June | 17 | 19 | 19 | 13 | 101 | 16 | 8.3 | 16 |
| July | 20 | 20 | 22 | 16 | 85 | 16 | 8.2 | 14 |
| August | 19 | 20 | 21 | 14 | 99 | 15 | 6.7 | 15 |
| September | 16 | 18 | 16 | 10 | 64 | 13 | 4.5 | 17 |
| October | 9 | 13 | 8 | 3 | 74 | 14 | 1.8 | 17 |
| November | 2 | 6 | 1 | -2 | 74 | 14 | 0.0 | 16 |
| December | Ice | — | -3 | -7 | 62 | 14 | 0.1 | 17 |
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 2.4 years before flowing out.
- Its catchment drains 47,674 km² of land.
- About 337 m³ of water flow out every second, on average.
- Its shoreline is 3.5 times longer than a circle of the same area: plenty of bays and inlets.
Around the shore
What's around Lake Peipus
Counted within 1.5 km of the shoreline in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit.
- 52beaches and swimming spots
Räpina supelrand, Lüübnitsa supelrand, Kallaste puhkeala, Lobotka supelrand, Lobotka ujumiskoht and 47 more
- 30campsites
Kauksi rannametsa puhkekoht (suurürituste ala), Kauksi telkimisala, Raadna telkimisala, Uusküla telkimisala, Willipu Camping and 25 more
- 1boat hire and water-sport clubs
- 55marinas and slipways
Värska sadama slipp, Slipp 1, Sassukvere sadama slipp, Jõekääru sadama slipp, Mihkli sadama slipp and 50 more
- 49ferry piers
- 10viewpoints
Hilarijs, Peipusa parkings Ranna, Kolkja vaatetorn and 7 more
- 94hotels, B&Bs and chalets
Anna kodumajutus ja kohvik, Kallaste - Laguun Peipus Lake Hostel, Peipsi Lained, Ardae Villa, Kauksi Motell OÜ and 89 more
- 1fishing spots
- 22restaurants and cafés
Towns on the shore
- Gdov5,521 people
- Mustvee1,662 people
- Värska414 people
Nearest airport with scheduled flights: Tartu Airport (TAY), 65 km in a straight line.
Car hire at TAY airport (Tartu)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 | -5.3 | -4.5 | 0.5 | 8.3 | 15.6 | 19.2 | 22.1 | 20.6 | 15.5 | 7.5 | 1.3 | -2.7 |
| 2020 | +7.5 | +6.1 | +2.9 | −1.3 | −2.5 | +3.3 | −2.0 | ±0.0 | +1.1 | +2.8 | +2.8 | +0.4 |
| 2021 | −1.6 | −2.5 | +0.4 | −0.9 | −1.6 | +4.2 | +3.2 | −1.6 | −2.5 | +1.5 | +1.2 | −3.4 |
| 2022 | +2.6 | +3.6 | ±0.0 | −0.9 | −2.2 | +2.0 | −0.3 | +3.0 | −2.9 | +1.7 | −0.2 | −2.7 |
| 2023 | +2.0 | +1.8 | +0.3 | +1.4 | −0.2 | +1.8 | −1.4 | +2.0 | +3.4 | −0.4 | −1.7 | −2.5 |
| 2024 | −3.1 | +1.7 | +3.2 | +0.8 | +2.5 | +2.1 | +0.9 | +1.0 | +4.0 | +2.0 | +2.2 | +2.8 |
| 2025 | +5.2 | +0.5 | +3.6 | +0.9 | −2.1 | −1.3 | +1.4 | −1.3 | +1.9 | +0.5 | +1.2 | +3.1 |
+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 (Q19253) · 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.
