Reservoir · United States
Lake Winnipesaukee
Winnipesaukee
Lake in New Hampshire, United States of America
- Area
- 182km²
- Max depth
- 55m
- Average depth
- 1.4m
- Elevation
- 151m a.s.l.
- Shoreline
- 357km
- Volume
- 0.257km³
Lake Winnipesaukee is a reservoir in United States. It covers 182 km². On average it is 1.4 m deep, and 55 m at its deepest point. Its surface lies 151 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 Winnipesaukee?
The water is warmest in July, around 23 °C at the surface, and coldest in January, around 0 °C. The surface averages 20 °C or more from July to August: comfortable for most swimmers.
The lake usually freezes over for about 101 days a year, from around 28 December to 7 April.
On the shore, afternoons reach 26 °C on average in July and -3 °C in January. The driest month is January (70 mm of rain), the wettest October (129 mm).
Average surface temperature measured by the Landsat 8 satellite between 2013 and 2021 at the point furthest from the shore (143 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 | — | -3 | -12 | 70 | 10 | 3.8 | 10 |
| February | Ice | — | -1 | -11 | 81 | 9 | 4.8 | 11 |
| March | Ice | — | 4 | -6 | 90 | 10 | 5.7 | 11 |
| April | 2 | 6 | 11 | 0 | 103 | 10 | 6.4 | 9 |
| May | 11 | 15 | 18 | 7 | 98 | 12 | 6.6 | 8 |
| June | 19 | 22 | 23 | 12 | 120 | 14 | 7.2 | 7 |
| July | 23 | 23 | 26 | 16 | 104 | 14 | 8.1 | 6 |
| August | 23 | 23 | 25 | 15 | 100 | 12 | 7.7 | 6 |
| September | 20 | 22 | 22 | 11 | 92 | 10 | 6.9 | 7 |
| October | 15 | 18 | 14 | 4 | 129 | 10 | 4.5 | 8 |
| November | 9 | 12 | 7 | -2 | 98 | 10 | 3.7 | 8 |
| December | 3 | 6 | 0 | -7 | 111 | 11 | 2.9 | 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 5 months before flowing out.
- Its catchment drains 954 km² of land.
- About 21 m³ of water flow out every second, on average.
- Its shoreline is 7.5 times longer than a circle of the same area: plenty of bays and inlets.
Around the shore
What's around Lake Winnipesaukee
Counted within 1.5 km of the shoreline in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit.
- 38beaches and swimming spots
Gilford Beach, Brewster Beach, Wolfeboro Town Beach, Paugus Bay Beach, Long Bay Beach and 33 more
- 6campsites
Green Tops Campground, Camp Kabeyun, Camp Winaukee, Camp Robindel, Camp Belknap and 1 more
- —boat hire and water-sport clubs
- 30marinas and slipways
Island Marina Association, Boat Ramp, Lees Mill, Town Docks, States Landing and 25 more
- 1ferry piers
Meredith
- 11viewpoints
- 26hotels, B&Bs and chalets
The Margate Resort, Birch Knoll Motel, Half Moon Motel & Cottages, Misty Harbor and Barefoot Beach Resort, Belknap Point Inn and 21 more
- —fishing spots
- 50restaurants and cafés
Towns on the shore
- Laconia16,227 people
- Moultonborough5,034 people
- Wolfeboro2,838 people
- Meredith1,718 people
- Center Harbor1,061 people
Nearest airport with scheduled flights: Portsmouth International Airport at Pease (PSM), 71 km in a straight line.
Car hire at MHT airport (Manchester)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 | -2.7 | -1.4 | 3.5 | 11.3 | 17.9 | 22.6 | 25.6 | 25.0 | 21.5 | 14.0 | 6.8 | 0.4 |
| 2020 | +2.7 | +1.6 | +2.7 | −2.3 | −0.2 | +1.3 | +1.5 | +0.6 | +0.7 | −0.2 | +2.9 | +1.2 |
| 2021 | +1.4 | −0.6 | +2.8 | +1.0 | +0.6 | +2.9 | −2.4 | +1.0 | +0.7 | +2.2 | +0.6 | +1.6 |
| 2022 | −0.9 | +1.8 | +1.5 | −0.2 | +2.1 | −0.3 | +1.1 | +2.2 | −0.7 | +1.6 | +2.7 | +1.4 |
| 2023 | +3.6 | +1.6 | +0.2 | +0.8 | +0.7 | −1.2 | +0.7 | −1.3 | +0.4 | +2.1 | −1.3 | +2.4 |
| 2024 | +1.4 | +3.1 | +1.2 | −0.3 | +1.2 | +1.7 | +1.6 | −0.3 | +0.2 | +1.1 | +1.9 | +0.1 |
| 2025 | −0.6 | −1.6 | +2.5 | +0.8 | −0.3 | +1.1 | +1.3 | +0.7 | +1.6 | +1.7 | −0.5 | −1.8 |
+1 warmer than usual −1 cooler than usual
Nearby
More lakes nearby
United States0.2 km² · 129 km away26°maxLake Champlain
Canada1,141 km² · 187 km away23°maxLake ChaubunagungamaugUnited States4.6 km² · 178 km away25°maxLake GeorgeUnited States113 km² · 173 km away24°maxLake MemphremagogCanada90.7 km² · 176 km away22°maxLac Saint-LouisCanada151 km² · 281 km away22°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 (Q224872) · 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.
