Reservoir · United States
Moosehead Lake
Moosehead
Lake in Maine, United States
- Area
- 300km²
- Max depth
- 17m
- Average depth
- 5.8m
- Elevation
- 311m a.s.l.
- Shoreline
- 343km
- Volume
- 1.7km³
Moosehead Lake is a reservoir in United States. It covers 300 km². On average it is 5.8 m deep, and 17 m at its deepest point. Its surface lies 311 m above sea level.
Plan your visit
Stay, sail and get there
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The water
How warm is Moosehead Lake?
The water is warmest in August, around 20 °C at the surface, and coldest in January, around 0 °C. The surface averages 20 °C or more in August: comfortable for most swimmers.
The lake usually freezes over for about 137 days a year, from around 4 December to 19 April.
On the shore, afternoons reach 23 °C on average in July and -7 °C in January. The driest month is February (66 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 (53 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 | — | -7 | -17 | 69 | 12 | 3.5 | 11 |
| February | Ice | — | -6 | -16 | 66 | 10 | 4.7 | 12 |
| March | Ice | — | -1 | -10 | 81 | 12 | 6.0 | 12 |
| April | Ice | — | 7 | -2 | 96 | 13 | 6.6 | 11 |
| May | 8 | 12 | 15 | 5 | 100 | 15 | 6.6 | 9 |
| June | 15 | 18 | 20 | 10 | 125 | 16 | 7.2 | 8 |
| July | 20 | 21 | 23 | 14 | 115 | 18 | 7.7 | 7 |
| August | 20 | 21 | 22 | 13 | 109 | 15 | 7.2 | 7 |
| September | 18 | 19 | 19 | 8 | 91 | 12 | 6.3 | 8 |
| October | 12 | 15 | 11 | 2 | 129 | 13 | 3.9 | 9 |
| November | 5 | 9 | 3 | -4 | 103 | 12 | 2.6 | 9 |
| December | Ice | — | -4 | -12 | 109 | 13 | 2.2 | 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 10 months before flowing out.
- Its catchment drains 3,315 km² of land.
- About 65 m³ of water flow out every second, on average.
- Its shoreline is 5.6 times longer than a circle of the same area: plenty of bays and inlets.
Around the shore
What's around Moosehead Lake
Counted within 1.5 km of the shoreline in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit.
- 3beaches and swimming spots
Pebble Beach
- 10campsites
Dunn Point Campground, Rowell Cove Campground, Casey's Spencer Bay Camps, Salmon Island, Jewett Cove and 5 more
- —boat hire and water-sport clubs
- 16marinas and slipways
Rockwood Public Boat Launch, Greenville Junction Boat Launch, Jewett Cove Boat Ramp and 13 more
- —ferry piers
- 1viewpoints
Mt Kineo Fire Tower
- 3hotels, B&Bs and chalets
Lakefront Getaway at Moosehead Lake, Moose Mountain Inn, Greenville Inn
- —fishing spots
- 5restaurants and cafés
Towns on the shore
- Greenville1,257 people
Nearest airport with scheduled flights: Bangor International Airport (BGR), 130 km in a straight line.
Car hire at BGR airport (Bangor)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 | -7.4 | -5.9 | -1.1 | 7.3 | 15.3 | 20.1 | 23.0 | 22.2 | 18.6 | 10.6 | 2.9 | -3.8 |
| 2020 | +2.0 | +1.7 | +1.1 | −1.5 | −0.6 | +1.4 | +1.2 | −0.4 | −0.4 | −0.9 | +2.0 | +2.5 |
| 2021 | +1.8 | +0.2 | +2.0 | +2.0 | +0.4 | +2.1 | −1.7 | +1.7 | +0.1 | +2.8 | +0.4 | +1.3 |
| 2022 | −1.2 | +1.0 | +1.0 | +0.3 | +2.3 | −0.2 | +0.6 | +0.6 | −0.8 | +3.5 | +2.2 | +2.6 |
| 2023 | +3.7 | −0.3 | +0.9 | +1.7 | +0.2 | −0.9 | +1.3 | −1.4 | +1.9 | +3.2 | −1.4 | +2.8 |
| 2024 | +2.0 | +2.5 | +2.2 | +0.7 | +1.8 | +2.1 | +1.8 | +0.2 | +0.8 | +1.1 | +2.0 | +1.0 |
| 2025 | ±0.0 | −1.2 | +2.7 | +0.5 | +0.1 | +1.5 | +1.2 | +0.7 | +0.7 | +2.1 | −0.8 | −2.1 |
+1 warmer than usual −1 cooler than usual
Nearby
More lakes nearby
Canada90.7 km² · 219 km away22°maxLake WinnipesaukeeUnited States182 km² · 279 km away23°maxLake ChamplainCanada1,141 km² · 323 km away23°maxLac Saint-LouisCanada151 km² · 327 km away22°maxLake of Two MountainsCanada153 km² · 338 km away24°maxLake St. JohnCanada1,113 km² · 351 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 (Q2514433) · 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.
