Lake · Estonia
Lake Viljandi
Lake in Estonia
- Area
- 1.6km²
- Max depth
- 11m
- Average depth
- 7.4m
- Elevation
- 44m a.s.l.
- Shoreline
- 11km
- Volume
- 0.012km³
Lake Viljandi is a lake in Estonia. It covers 1.6 km². On average it is 7.4 m deep, and 11 m at its deepest point. Its surface lies 44 m above sea level.
Plan your visit
Stay, sail and get there
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The water
How warm is Lake Viljandi?
The water is warmest in July, around 22 °C at the surface, and coldest in January, around 0 °C. The surface averages 20 °C or more from June to August: comfortable for most swimmers.
The lake usually freezes over for about 124 days a year, from around 19 November to 22 March.
On the shore, afternoons reach 23 °C on average in July and -4 °C in January. The driest month is March (41 mm of rain), the wettest August (83 mm).
Average surface temperature measured by the Landsat 8 satellite between 2013 and 2021 at the point furthest from the shore (129 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 | — | -4 | -9 | 51 | 13 | 0.4 | 19 |
| February | Ice | — | -4 | -10 | 44 | 11 | 2.0 | 18 |
| March | Ice | — | 1 | -6 | 41 | 11 | 5.0 | 18 |
| April | 7 | 11 | 9 | 0 | 45 | 10 | 7.0 | 17 |
| May | 14 | 17 | 16 | 6 | 51 | 11 | 9.0 | 15 |
| June | 20 | 22 | 20 | 11 | 81 | 13 | 8.6 | 16 |
| July | 22 | 22 | 23 | 14 | 71 | 14 | 8.2 | 15 |
| August | 21 | 22 | 22 | 13 | 83 | 13 | 6.8 | 15 |
| September | 17 | 19 | 17 | 8 | 56 | 12 | 4.5 | 17 |
| October | 10 | 14 | 9 | 2 | 67 | 13 | 2.1 | 18 |
| November | 2 | 5 | 3 | -1 | 68 | 14 | 0.2 | 18 |
| December | Ice | — | -1 | -6 | 58 | 14 | 0.1 | 20 |
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 8 months before flowing out.
- Its catchment drains 62 km² of land.
- About 0.6 m³ of water flow out every second, on average.
Around the shore
What's around Lake Viljandi
Counted within 1.5 km of the shoreline in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit.
- 5beaches and swimming spots
Viljandi rand, Viljandi järve Huntaugu supelrand, Viljandi järve Huntaugu ujumiskoht
- 3campsites
Sammuli, Männimäe Külalistemaja
- 3boat hire and water-sport clubs
Katamaraan Rannapiga
- 2marinas and slipways
Viljandi sadam
- —ferry piers
- 23viewpoints
Närska mägi and 22 more
- 35hotels, B&Bs and chalets
Sammuli Puhkekeskus, Grand Hotel Viljandi, Peetrimõisa Villa, Hotell Centrum, Männimäe Külalistemaja and 30 more
- —fishing spots
- 36restaurants and cafés
Towns on the shore
- Viljandi17,407 people
- Viiratsi1,332 people
Nearest airport with scheduled flights: Tartu Airport (TAY), 64 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 | -3.8 | -3.5 | 1.1 | 8.8 | 16.0 | 19.9 | 23.2 | 22.0 | 16.6 | 8.6 | 2.6 | -1.4 |
| 2020 | +6.9 | +5.8 | +2.7 | −0.6 | −2.5 | +3.1 | −1.9 | +0.4 | +1.2 | +2.7 | +2.9 | +0.3 |
| 2021 | −1.0 | −2.4 | +1.1 | −0.7 | −1.9 | +3.9 | +4.2 | −1.9 | −2.2 | +1.6 | +1.1 | −2.9 |
| 2022 | +2.8 | +3.3 | +1.1 | −1.2 | −2.2 | +2.1 | +0.2 | +3.5 | −2.0 | +2.3 | −0.1 | −2.3 |
| 2023 | +1.9 | +2.7 | +1.2 | +1.5 | +0.3 | +2.7 | −0.8 | +1.6 | +3.3 | −0.6 | −1.3 | −2.3 |
| 2024 | −2.9 | +1.9 | +3.2 | +0.1 | +2.9 | +1.9 | +0.6 | +0.9 | +4.4 | +2.3 | +2.5 | +2.8 |
| 2025 | +4.1 | +1.1 | +4.0 | +1.5 | −1.9 | −1.7 | +0.3 | −2.1 | +1.7 | +0.6 | +1.3 | +3.1 |
+1 warmer than usual −1 cooler than usual
Latvia
RussiaAbout 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 (Q1229384) · 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.
