Lake · United States
Lake Union
Lake in King County, Washington, USA
- Area
- 1.8km²
- Average depth
- 5.9m
- Elevation
- 0m a.s.l.
- Shoreline
- 12km
- Volume
- 0.010km³
Lake Union is a lake in United States. It covers 1.8 km². On average it is 5.9 m deep. Its surface lies 0 m above sea level.
Plan your visit
Stay, sail and get there
Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.
The water
How warm is Lake Union?
The water is warmest in July, around 23 °C at the surface, and coldest in January, around 6 °C. The surface averages 20 °C or more from June to August: comfortable for most swimmers.
It does not normally freeze in winter.
On the shore, afternoons reach 23 °C on average in August and 6 °C in December. The driest month is July (19 mm of rain), the wettest November (188 mm).
Average surface temperature measured by the Landsat 8 satellite between 2013 and 2021 at the point furthest from the shore (114 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 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 2 | 174 | 20 | 1.6 | 9 |
| February | 7 | 7 | 8 | 1 | 108 | 16 | 3.4 | 8 |
| March | 9 | 10 | 10 | 3 | 138 | 19 | 3.9 | 9 |
| April | 12 | 14 | 13 | 5 | 95 | 17 | 5.5 | 8 |
| May | 16 | 18 | 18 | 8 | 70 | 13 | 7.0 | 6 |
| June | 20 | 22 | 20 | 11 | 51 | 12 | 7.8 | 6 |
| July | 23 | 23 | 23 | 13 | 19 | 5 | 9.8 | 5 |
| August | 23 | 23 | 23 | 13 | 29 | 5 | 8.8 | 6 |
| September | 20 | 22 | 20 | 11 | 58 | 9 | 6.7 | 6 |
| October | 16 | 18 | 15 | 7 | 125 | 16 | 4.0 | 8 |
| November | 11 | 13 | 10 | 4 | 188 | 20 | 2.0 | 9 |
| December | 8 | 9 | 6 | 1 | 175 | 20 | 1.4 | 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 2 days before flowing out.
- Its catchment drains 1,508 km² of land.
- About 55 m³ of water flow out every second, on average.
Around the shore
What's around Lake Union
Counted within 1.5 km of the shoreline in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit.
- 10beaches and swimming spots
6th Avenue West Street End, Lake Union Park Kayak Launch and Beach and 8 more
- —campsites
- 11boat hire and water-sport clubs
Northwest Outdoor Center, George Pocock Memorial Rowing Center, Agua Verde Paddle Club, Moss Bay, Waterfront Activities Center and 6 more
- 30marinas and slipways
Boat Street Marina, Lake Union Waterworks, Fremont Tug & Boat Co., Affinity Marina, Sea Scout Base Lake Union and 25 more
- —ferry piers
- 18viewpoints
Waterway 21 Viewpoint, Lake View Point, Louisa Boren Overlook, Volunteer Park Water Tower, Bagley Viewpoint and 13 more
- 42hotels, B&Bs and chalets
Adelaide Apartment, Hotel Hotel Hostel, Staybridge Suites - South Lake Union, SpringHill Suites, College Inn and 37 more
- 1fishing spots
- 548restaurants and cafés
Towns on the shore
- Seattle780,995 people
Nearest airport with scheduled flights: King County International Airport - Boeing Field (BFI), 13 km in a straight line.
Car hire at SEA airport (Seattle)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 | 7.1 | 8.0 | 10.4 | 13.3 | 17.5 | 19.8 | 23.2 | 23.4 | 20.2 | 14.7 | 9.7 | 6.4 |
| 2020 | +0.4 | −0.1 | −1.3 | +1.0 | +0.6 | −0.6 | −1.0 | −0.2 | +1.6 | +0.3 | −0.4 | +1.6 |
| 2021 | +0.7 | −2.2 | −0.1 | +1.7 | −0.4 | +3.5 | +1.6 | +0.8 | +0.2 | −0.8 | +1.1 | −2.2 |
| 2022 | +0.4 | −0.2 | +0.4 | −2.1 | −2.6 | −0.1 | +1.4 | +1.7 | +1.6 | +3.6 | −1.7 | −1.3 |
| 2023 | +0.3 | −1.3 | −1.1 | −1.5 | +2.7 | +0.9 | +1.0 | +1.6 | +0.1 | +1.1 | +0.5 | +3.1 |
| 2024 | −0.7 | +0.6 | +0.4 | −0.7 | −1.2 | −0.9 | +1.5 | −0.8 | −1.8 | −2.8 | −2.0 | +0.8 |
| 2025 | −1.8 | −2.3 | −1.1 | +0.4 | −1.4 | −1.1 | −2.7 | −2.5 | −2.3 | −2.9 | −1.0 | +1.2 |
+1 warmer than usual −1 cooler than usual
Nearby
More lakes nearby
United States83.8 km² · 6 km away22°maxLake SammamishUnited States18.7 km² · 18 km away23°maxLake ChelanUnited States128 km² · 147 km away18°maxHarrison Lake
Canada222 km² · 212 km away20°maxOkanagan LakeCanada349 km² · 350 km away23°maxFranklin D. Roosevelt LakeUnited States269 km² · 319 km away21°maxAbout 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 (Q1993203) · 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.
