Lake · New Zealand
Lake Pukaki
Lake in Canterbury Region, New Zealand
- Area
- 176km²
- Average depth
- 78m
- Elevation
- 534m a.s.l.
- Shoreline
- 85km
- Volume
- 13.8km³
Lake Pukaki is a lake in New Zealand. It covers 176 km². On average it is 78 m deep. Its surface lies 534 m above sea level.
Plan your visit
Stay, sail and get there
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The water
How warm is Lake Pukaki?
The water is warmest in January, around 16 °C at the surface, and coldest in August, around 7 °C. Even at its warmest, the surface stays below 17 °C on average: this is cold water.
It does not normally freeze in winter.
On the shore, afternoons reach 16 °C on average in February and 2 °C in July. The driest month is February (119 mm of rain), the wettest December (167 mm).
Average surface temperature measured by the Landsat 8 satellite between 2013 and 2021 at the point furthest from the shore (77 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 | 16 | 16 | 16 | 6 | 156 | 16 | 7.8 | 16 |
| February | 16 | 16 | 16 | 6 | 119 | 14 | 7.8 | 14 |
| March | 14 | 15 | 14 | 5 | 128 | 16 | 6.8 | 13 |
| April | 12 | 14 | 10 | 2 | 126 | 16 | 5.5 | 12 |
| May | 10 | 11 | 6 | 0 | 149 | 18 | 3.8 | 13 |
| June | 9 | 10 | 3 | -2 | 144 | 17 | 3.2 | 11 |
| July | 8 | 8 | 2 | -3 | 128 | 17 | 3.4 | 11 |
| August | 7 | 7 | 4 | -2 | 129 | 18 | 4.0 | 12 |
| September | 7 | 8 | 7 | -1 | 148 | 18 | 4.6 | 15 |
| October | 9 | 10 | 9 | 0 | 151 | 20 | 5.4 | 16 |
| November | 12 | 13 | 12 | 3 | 148 | 17 | 6.6 | 16 |
| December | 14 | 16 | 14 | 5 | 167 | 18 | 7.3 | 15 |
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 4.3 years before flowing out.
- Its catchment drains 1,374 km² of land.
- About 103 m³ of water flow out every second, on average.
Around the shore
What's around Lake Pukaki
Counted within 1.5 km of the shoreline in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit.
- 2beaches and swimming spots
- 6campsites
Lake Pukaki Camping Area, Glentanner Park, Lake Wardell, Glentanner Holiday Park, Pines Camp Freedom Camping and 1 more
- —boat hire and water-sport clubs
- —marinas and slipways
- —ferry piers
- 9viewpoints
Tapataia Mahaka / Peter's Lookout, View of Mt Cook, Viewpoint of the lake and 6 more
- 3hotels, B&Bs and chalets
Hilltop, Braemar Station Lodge, Lakestone Lodge
- —fishing spots
- 1restaurants and cafés
Nearest airport with scheduled flights: Timaru Airport (TIU), 88 km in a straight line.
OpenStreetMap 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 | 15.6 | 15.8 | 13.6 | 9.9 | 6.4 | 3.3 | 2.5 | 4.1 | 6.7 | 8.9 | 11.7 | 14.2 |
| 2020 | +1.6 | +1.8 | −0.2 | −0.5 | +1.0 | +0.8 | +0.4 | +1.9 | −0.4 | +1.3 | +1.2 | −0.1 |
| 2021 | −0.6 | +1.1 | +0.4 | +0.4 | +1.0 | +1.9 | +0.9 | +0.3 | −0.5 | +1.7 | +1.6 | +0.2 |
| 2022 | +3.3 | +0.1 | +1.9 | +2.5 | +2.1 | +0.2 | −0.7 | +1.2 | +0.4 | +0.7 | +1.0 | +0.7 |
| 2023 | +2.9 | +0.6 | −0.8 | +1.2 | +2.0 | +1.5 | +0.9 | −0.5 | +0.9 | +1.2 | +1.3 | +1.8 |
| 2024 | +1.2 | −0.5 | −1.2 | +0.5 | −1.0 | +1.4 | +0.7 | +0.6 | −0.5 | −0.1 | +1.1 | +1.2 |
| 2025 | +1.6 | +2.6 | +1.5 | +1.1 | +1.2 | −0.7 | +1.3 | +0.4 | −1.3 | −1.2 | +1.1 | −1.1 |
+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 (Q1347588) · 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.
