Lake · New Zealand
Lake Tekapo
Lake in New Zealand
- Area
- 94.2km²
- Max depth
- 120m
- Average depth
- 39m
- Elevation
- 710m a.s.l.
- Shoreline
- 75km
- Volume
- 3.7km³
Lake Tekapo is a lake in New Zealand. It covers 94.2 km². On average it is 39 m deep, and 120 m at its deepest point. Its surface lies 710 m above sea level.
Plan your visit
Stay, sail and get there
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The water
How warm is Lake Tekapo?
The water is warmest in February, 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 18 °C on average in February and 4 °C in July. The driest month is March (85 mm of rain), the wettest December (114 mm).
Average surface temperature measured by the Landsat 8 satellite between 2013 and 2021 at the point furthest from the shore (164 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 | 18 | 7 | 104 | 15 | 7.8 | 16 |
| February | 16 | 16 | 18 | 7 | 85 | 13 | 7.8 | 13 |
| March | 15 | 16 | 16 | 5 | 85 | 15 | 6.8 | 13 |
| April | 13 | 14 | 12 | 2 | 92 | 15 | 5.5 | 13 |
| May | 10 | 11 | 8 | 0 | 100 | 17 | 3.8 | 13 |
| June | 9 | 9 | 5 | -2 | 95 | 16 | 3.2 | 12 |
| July | 8 | 8 | 4 | -3 | 86 | 16 | 3.4 | 12 |
| August | 7 | 7 | 6 | -2 | 88 | 18 | 4.0 | 12 |
| September | 7 | 8 | 9 | 0 | 89 | 18 | 4.6 | 16 |
| October | 8 | 10 | 11 | 1 | 103 | 18 | 5.4 | 16 |
| November | 11 | 12 | 14 | 3 | 104 | 17 | 6.6 | 16 |
| December | 14 | 15 | 16 | 6 | 114 | 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 17 months before flowing out.
- Its catchment drains 1,451 km² of land.
- About 80 m³ of water flow out every second, on average.
Around the shore
What's around Lake Tekapo
Counted within 1.5 km of the shoreline in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit.
- —beaches and swimming spots
- 6campsites
Lake Alexandrina, Lake McGregor, Freedom Camping for Self Contained Vehicles, Lake Tekapo NZMCA Park, Lakes Edge Holiday Park and 1 more
- —boat hire and water-sport clubs
- 3marinas and slipways
- —ferry piers
- 11viewpoints
White bluffs, Mt John Observatory Southern Viewpoint, Mt John Observatory, Start of Sawdon Station Tra - 8km loop and 7 more
- 43hotels, B&Bs and chalets
Lake Tekapo Cottages, Tekapo Ski Club Retreat, Lakefront Lodge, Godley Hotel, Lake Tekapo Luxury Lodge and 38 more
- —fishing spots
- 18restaurants and cafés
Nearest airport with scheduled flights: Timaru Airport (TIU), 71 km in a straight line.
Car hire at HKK airport (Hokitika Airfield)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 | 18.3 | 18.5 | 16.1 | 12.0 | 8.2 | 4.8 | 4.1 | 6.0 | 8.9 | 11.2 | 13.9 | 16.5 |
| 2020 | +1.6 | +2.6 | −0.2 | +0.3 | +1.2 | +0.6 | +0.2 | +1.9 | ±0.0 | +1.3 | +0.8 | +0.1 |
| 2021 | −0.1 | +1.5 | +0.7 | +1.1 | +1.1 | +1.8 | +1.2 | +0.1 | −0.4 | +1.3 | +1.1 | −0.4 |
| 2022 | +2.8 | −1.3 | +0.7 | +2.6 | +2.1 | +0.8 | −1.1 | +1.1 | −0.1 | +0.2 | +0.8 | −0.1 |
| 2023 | +1.5 | −0.2 | −1.1 | +0.6 | +1.8 | +1.4 | +0.9 | −0.2 | +0.5 | +1.2 | +0.9 | +2.4 |
| 2024 | +1.8 | +0.4 | −0.9 | +0.9 | −1.0 | +1.6 | +0.7 | +0.6 | ±0.0 | +0.2 | +1.0 | +1.1 |
| 2025 | +0.3 | +2.6 | +1.4 | +0.8 | +1.1 | −0.7 | +1.0 | +0.3 | −0.5 | −0.9 | +2.0 | −0.9 |
+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 (Q1194022) · 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.
