Lake · United States
Mono Lake
Endorheic lake in California
- Area
- 186km²
- Max depth
- 17m
- Average depth
- 8.4m
- Elevation
- 1,948m a.s.l.
- Shoreline
- 86km
- Volume
- 1.6km³
Mono Lake is a lake in United States. It covers 186 km². On average it is 8.4 m deep, and 17 m at its deepest point. Its surface lies 1,948 m above sea level.
Plan your visit
Stay, sail and get there
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The water
How warm is Mono Lake?
The water is warmest in July, around 22 °C at the surface, and coldest in January, around 2 °C. The surface averages 20 °C or more from July to August: comfortable for most swimmers.
It does not normally freeze in winter.
On the shore, afternoons reach 29 °C on average in July and 3 °C in January. The driest month is September (6 mm of rain), the wettest December (72 mm).
Average surface temperature measured by the Landsat 8 satellite between 2013 and 2021 at the point furthest from the shore (121 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 | 2 | 2 | 3 | -8 | 69 | 10 | 6.1 | 12 |
| February | 3 | 4 | 4 | -7 | 61 | 10 | 7.4 | 13 |
| March | 6 | 8 | 7 | -5 | 51 | 9 | 9.1 | 14 |
| April | 10 | 12 | 12 | -2 | 33 | 7 | 10.8 | 14 |
| May | 15 | 17 | 18 | 3 | 27 | 6 | 11.9 | 12 |
| June | 20 | 21 | 24 | 8 | 9 | 3 | 13.8 | 12 |
| July | 22 | 22 | 29 | 13 | 13 | 3 | 12.6 | 10 |
| August | 22 | 22 | 28 | 12 | 9 | 2 | 12.3 | 10 |
| September | 18 | 20 | 23 | 8 | 6 | 2 | 11.4 | 11 |
| October | 13 | 16 | 16 | 2 | 25 | 4 | 9.6 | 11 |
| November | 8 | 10 | 9 | -4 | 37 | 7 | 7.6 | 12 |
| December | 4 | 6 | 3 | -8 | 72 | 9 | 5.5 | 13 |
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 6.1 years before flowing out.
- Its catchment drains 1,810 km² of land.
- About 8.2 m³ of water flow out every second, on average.
Around the shore
What's around Mono Lake
Counted within 1.5 km of the shoreline in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit.
- 3beaches and swimming spots
Danburg Beach, Navy Beach
- —campsites
- 1boat hire and water-sport clubs
Mono Basin Kayak Rentals
- —marinas and slipways
- —ferry piers
- 7viewpoints
Black Point Fissures, Mono Lake Tufa State Natural Reserve and 5 more
- 1hotels, B&Bs and chalets
Tioga Lodge
- —fishing spots
- 1restaurants and cafés
Nearest airport with scheduled flights: Mammoth Yosemite Airport (MMH), 45 km in a straight line.
OpenStreetMap 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 | 3.0 | 3.8 | 7.4 | 11.6 | 17.5 | 24.5 | 28.9 | 28.0 | 23.3 | 16.2 | 8.9 | 3.0 |
| 2020 | +1.8 | +3.4 | −1.7 | +1.3 | +2.3 | −0.2 | +1.2 | +2.0 | +2.3 | +3.5 | +0.6 | +2.0 |
| 2021 | +1.8 | +0.3 | −0.6 | +3.3 | +1.8 | +3.4 | +0.7 | +1.1 | +2.2 | −2.2 | +3.5 | −0.1 |
| 2022 | +0.3 | +0.8 | +2.2 | +1.9 | +0.7 | +0.6 | +1.6 | +0.4 | +1.8 | +2.1 | −3.6 | −1.0 |
| 2023 | −3.9 | −3.4 | −6.2 | −1.6 | −1.4 | −5.2 | +0.4 | −1.5 | −1.2 | +0.5 | +0.3 | +3.8 |
| 2024 | +0.9 | −0.8 | −1.9 | +1.7 | +1.5 | +2.8 | +1.8 | +0.2 | +1.0 | +2.9 | −1.6 | +4.8 |
| 2025 | +1.4 | +2.5 | +1.0 | +1.4 | +2.2 | +1.7 | +0.4 | +0.9 | −0.5 | −0.1 | +2.7 | +5.3 |
+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 (Q335585) · 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.
