Glacial lake · Argentina
Nahuel Huapi Lake
Nahuel Huapi
Glacial lake
- Area
- 528km²
- Max depth
- 464m
- Average depth
- 156m
- Elevation
- 769m a.s.l.
- Shoreline
- 441km
- Volume
- 82.5km³
Nahuel Huapi Lake is a glacial lake in Argentina. It covers 528 km². On average it is 156 m deep, and 464 m at its deepest point. Its surface lies 769 m above sea level.
Plan your visit
Stay, sail and get there
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The water
How warm is Nahuel Huapi Lake?
The water is warmest in February, around 15 °C at the surface, and coldest in September, around 7 °C. Even at its warmest, the surface stays below 17 °C on average: this is cold water.
It does not normally freeze in winter.
On the shore, afternoons reach 21 °C on average in February and 3 °C in July. The driest month is February (24 mm of rain), the wettest June (156 mm).
Average surface temperature measured by the Landsat 8 satellite between 2013 and 2021 at the point furthest from the shore (92 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 | 14 | 15 | 20 | 6 | 33 | 5 | 11.8 | 14 |
| February | 15 | 16 | 21 | 6 | 24 | 4 | 10.8 | 13 |
| March | 15 | 15 | 17 | 4 | 33 | 7 | 8.8 | 12 |
| April | 13 | 14 | 12 | 1 | 59 | 10 | 6.4 | 12 |
| May | 11 | 12 | 7 | -1 | 120 | 14 | 4.1 | 12 |
| June | 9 | 10 | 3 | -3 | 156 | 17 | 2.9 | 13 |
| July | 8 | 9 | 3 | -4 | 127 | 15 | 3.5 | 13 |
| August | 8 | 8 | 4 | -3 | 122 | 15 | 4.1 | 14 |
| September | 7 | 7 | 8 | -2 | 62 | 10 | 6.3 | 13 |
| October | 8 | 8 | 11 | 0 | 52 | 10 | 7.6 | 14 |
| November | 9 | 10 | 14 | 2 | 38 | 8 | 9.6 | 14 |
| December | 12 | 13 | 17 | 4 | 30 | 7 | 11.0 | 15 |
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 16 years before flowing out.
- Its catchment drains 3,989 km² of land.
- About 160 m³ of water flow out every second, on average.
- Its shoreline is 5.4 times longer than a circle of the same area: plenty of bays and inlets.
Around the shore
What's around Nahuel Huapi Lake
Counted within 1.5 km of the shoreline in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit.
- 71beaches and swimming spots
Playa Angostura, Playa Melipal, Playa, Playa Las Bombas, Playa Centenario and 66 more
- 22campsites
Camping Selva Negra, Camping Ragintuco, El Yeti, Camping Brazo Rincon, Camping Petunia and 17 more
- 4boat hire and water-sport clubs
Kitesurf, Alquiler de káyak, Servicio Nautico Claudio Lena
- 18marinas and slipways
Cumelen Country Club, Amarras del Nahuel, Puerto Pireo, Puerto Arrayanes, Port Huemul and 13 more
- 11ferry piers
Puerto Arrayanes, Patagonia Argentina, Futaleufú, Puerto Los Cántaros, Puerto Blest and 6 more
- 78viewpoints
Mirador Inalco, Mirador Brazo Norte, Mirador Lago, Mirador Cascada Los Cántaros, Mirador Playa Bonita and 73 more
- 357hotels, B&Bs and chalets
La Torre de la Cascada, CFN Hotel, Green House Hostel, Hostería Nuevo Pinar, BELLEVUE B&B and 352 more
- 3fishing spots
Pesca con mosca - Devolución obligatoria, Pesca Río Correntoso
- 188restaurants and cafés
Towns on the shore
- San Carlos de Bariloche95,394 people
- Villa La Angostura7,526 people
- Dina Huapi5,491 people
Nearest airport with scheduled flights: Teniente Luis Candelaria International Airport (BRC), 14 km in a straight line.
Car hire at BRC airport (San Carlos de Bariloche)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 | 20.0 | 20.6 | 17.1 | 11.8 | 7.1 | 3.3 | 2.6 | 4.3 | 7.8 | 11.0 | 14.3 | 17.2 |
| 2020 | +1.2 | −0.6 | +3.2 | +1.5 | +1.1 | −1.1 | −2.4 | −0.6 | +1.1 | +1.3 | +2.6 | +1.1 |
| 2021 | +1.8 | +3.5 | +3.7 | +3.1 | +1.1 | +0.5 | +1.8 | +0.8 | +2.1 | +2.0 | +2.5 | +5.5 |
| 2022 | +1.3 | −0.2 | −1.5 | −2.0 | −1.6 | −1.2 | −2.1 | −2.7 | +1.3 | +0.7 | +3.9 | +1.7 |
| 2023 | +2.4 | +1.8 | +0.6 | +1.9 | +1.8 | +0.5 | −0.1 | −0.5 | −1.7 | ±0.0 | −2.1 | +0.7 |
| 2024 | +2.4 | +2.6 | −1.3 | −2.2 | −4.7 | −1.0 | −1.0 | +0.1 | −0.9 | +3.6 | −0.7 | +1.4 |
| 2025 | +3.6 | +0.3 | +0.6 | −0.2 | −0.6 | −0.4 | +1.2 | +2.3 | +1.1 | +0.6 | +2.5 | +0.9 |
+1 warmer than usual −1 cooler than usual
ChileAbout 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 (Q498371) · 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.
