Crater lake · Finland
Lappajärvi
Crater lake in South Ostrobothnia region, Finland
- Area
- 144km²
- Max depth
- 38m
- Average depth
- 17m
- Elevation
- 54m a.s.l.
- Shoreline
- 109km
- Volume
- 2.5km³
Lappajärvi is a crater lake in Finland. It covers 144 km². On average it is 17 m deep, and 38 m at its deepest point. Its surface lies 54 m above sea level.
Plan your visit
Stay, sail and get there
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The water
How warm is Lappajärvi?
The water is warmest in July, around 19 °C at the surface, and coldest in January, around 0 °C. It rarely averages 20 °C, but it stays above 17 °C from July to August: brisk, refreshing swimming.
The lake usually freezes over for about 145 days a year, from around 13 November to 6 April.
On the shore, afternoons reach 21 °C on average in July and -6 °C in January. The driest month is March (42 mm of rain), the wettest July (96 mm).
Average surface temperature measured by the Landsat 8 satellite between 2013 and 2021 at the point furthest from the shore (96 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 | — | -6 | -11 | 56 | 13 | 0.3 | 10 |
| February | Ice | — | -6 | -12 | 44 | 11 | 2.4 | 10 |
| March | Ice | — | -1 | -8 | 42 | 11 | 5.6 | 10 |
| April | 2 | 6 | 6 | -2 | 53 | 11 | 7.2 | 9 |
| May | 9 | 13 | 14 | 4 | 68 | 12 | 8.9 | 8 |
| June | 16 | 18 | 18 | 9 | 82 | 15 | 9.5 | 8 |
| July | 19 | 19 | 21 | 12 | 96 | 17 | 8.6 | 7 |
| August | 18 | 19 | 19 | 11 | 89 | 16 | 7.0 | 7 |
| September | 14 | 16 | 13 | 6 | 75 | 13 | 4.3 | 8 |
| October | 7 | 10 | 6 | 1 | 78 | 15 | 1.7 | 8 |
| November | Ice | — | 0 | -3 | 70 | 14 | 0.2 | 9 |
| December | Ice | — | -4 | -8 | 64 | 15 | 0.0 | 10 |
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 6.5 years before flowing out.
- Its catchment drains 1,521 km² of land.
- About 12 m³ of water flow out every second, on average.
- Its shoreline is 2.5 times longer than a circle of the same area: plenty of bays and inlets.
Around the shore
What's around Lappajärvi
Counted within 1.5 km of the shoreline in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit.
- 8beaches and swimming spots
Karvalan uimaranta, Lakaniemen uimaranta, Lypsinmaan uimapaikka, Sahin uimaranta and 4 more
- 4campsites
Matkaparkki Kivitippu, Nurkkalan leirintä, SFC Koivulehto, Vieresniemen karavaanarialue
- —boat hire and water-sport clubs
- 3marinas and slipways
Isoniemen venesatama
- 2ferry piers
- 1viewpoints
Pyhävuori
- 3hotels, B&Bs and chalets
Kraatteri Resort, Koskikievari, Hotelli Kivitippu
- —fishing spots
- 8restaurants and cafés
Towns on the shore
- Lappajärvi2,710 people
- Vimpeli2,603 people
Nearest airport with scheduled flights: Kokkola-Pietarsaari Airport (KOK), 71 km in a straight line.
Car hire at KOK airport (Kokkola / Kruunupyy)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 | -6.2 | -5.5 | -1.2 | 6.2 | 13.6 | 17.9 | 20.9 | 18.8 | 13.4 | 5.6 | 0.2 | -3.5 |
| 2020 | +6.5 | +4.9 | +2.6 | −1.6 | −2.6 | +4.2 | −2.4 | +0.1 | +0.8 | +2.0 | +3.1 | +1.3 |
| 2021 | −2.5 | −2.7 | +0.1 | ±0.0 | −1.1 | +4.2 | +2.4 | −1.3 | −2.6 | +1.9 | −0.3 | −3.2 |
| 2022 | +1.2 | +2.3 | +1.7 | −1.1 | −0.8 | +1.9 | −0.4 | +1.7 | −1.7 | +2.5 | −0.5 | −1.8 |
| 2023 | +2.6 | +2.5 | −1.1 | −1.3 | +0.3 | +2.2 | −1.1 | +1.0 | +2.8 | −2.0 | −4.3 | −4.8 |
| 2024 | −3.2 | ±0.0 | +0.4 | −3.0 | +3.8 | +2.5 | +0.4 | +1.6 | +2.7 | +2.4 | +1.5 | +1.3 |
| 2025 | +2.2 | +2.9 | +4.2 | +1.6 | −1.5 | −1.0 | +3.2 | −0.8 | +2.4 | +1.9 | +1.8 | +3.2 |
+1 warmer than usual −1 cooler than usual
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 (Q891569) · 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.
