Reservoir · Brazil
Paranoá Lake
Artificial lake in Brasília
- Area
- 35.6km²
- Max depth
- 38m
- Average depth
- 17m
- Elevation
- 1,001m a.s.l.
- Shoreline
- 89km
- Volume
- 0.600km³
Paranoá Lake is a reservoir in Brazil. It covers 35.6 km². On average it is 17 m deep, and 38 m at its deepest point. Its surface lies 1,001 m above sea level.
Plan your visit
Stay, sail and get there
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The water
How warm is Paranoá Lake?
The water is warmest in February, around 26 °C at the surface, and coldest in July, around 22 °C. The surface averages 20 °C or more from January to December: comfortable for most swimmers.
It does not normally freeze in winter.
On the shore, afternoons reach 32 °C on average in September and 26 °C in April. The driest month is July (2 mm of rain), the wettest December (221 mm).
Average surface temperature measured by the Landsat 8 satellite between 2013 and 2021 at the point furthest from the shore (89 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 | 26 | 26 | 27 | 18 | 209 | 25 | 6.5 | 10 |
| February | 26 | 26 | 27 | 18 | 180 | 22 | 6.9 | 9 |
| March | 26 | 26 | 26 | 18 | 197 | 25 | 7.0 | 9 |
| April | 25 | 26 | 26 | 17 | 107 | 16 | 8.0 | 10 |
| May | 24 | 25 | 26 | 14 | 25 | 6 | 8.7 | 11 |
| June | 23 | 23 | 26 | 13 | 5 | 1 | 9.3 | 12 |
| July | 22 | 22 | 28 | 13 | 2 | 0 | 9.7 | 14 |
| August | 22 | 23 | 30 | 15 | 11 | 2 | 9.9 | 14 |
| September | 24 | 24 | 32 | 18 | 32 | 8 | 8.8 | 14 |
| October | 25 | 25 | 31 | 19 | 114 | 18 | 7.4 | 11 |
| November | 26 | 26 | 28 | 18 | 200 | 25 | 6.1 | 10 |
| December | 26 | 26 | 27 | 18 | 221 | 26 | 6.2 | 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 18 months before flowing out.
- Its catchment drains 1,003 km² of land.
- About 13 m³ of water flow out every second, on average.
- Its shoreline is 4.2 times longer than a circle of the same area: plenty of bays and inlets.
Around the shore
What's around Paranoá Lake
Counted within 1.5 km of the shoreline in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit.
- 1beaches and swimming spots
Prainha do Lago Norte
- —campsites
- 1boat hire and water-sport clubs
Clube de Remada Kaluanã
- 8marinas and slipways
Centrejufe and 7 more
- —ferry piers
- 8viewpoints
Orla da Ponte JK, Morrote Voo Livre Lago Sul, Mirante do Casal, Mirante Pedra dos Amigos, Ermida Dom Bosco and 3 more
- 13hotels, B&Bs and chalets
Clube de Tênis Resort, Lake Side Hotel, Hotel Esplanada, Hotel Vila Planalto, Hostel Vila Planalto and 8 more
- —fishing spots
- 274restaurants and cafés
Towns on the shore
- Plano Piloto198,697 people
- Paranoá63,923 people
- Lago Norte41,778 people
- Lago Sul26,244 people
- Varjão8,609 people
Nearest airport with scheduled flights: Presidente Juscelino Kubitschek International Airport (BSB), 13 km in a straight line.
Car hire at BSB airport (Brasília)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 | 26.7 | 26.7 | 26.4 | 26.2 | 26.2 | 26.5 | 27.6 | 30.0 | 32.2 | 31.4 | 28.0 | 27.0 |
| 2020 | +0.8 | −0.1 | ±0.0 | −0.3 | −1.5 | −0.3 | ±0.0 | −0.1 | +1.1 | ±0.0 | +0.8 | +2.7 |
| 2021 | +3.1 | +0.3 | +0.4 | +0.8 | +2.5 | +2.0 | +0.9 | −0.1 | +2.5 | ±0.0 | −0.9 | −0.5 |
| 2022 | −0.7 | −0.9 | +1.2 | +3.2 | +2.2 | +2.6 | +1.0 | +0.7 | ±0.0 | +1.1 | +0.5 | −1.5 |
| 2023 | −0.7 | +2.0 | +1.5 | +2.0 | +2.9 | +2.2 | +1.6 | +1.3 | +1.4 | +2.1 | +6.1 | +5.4 |
| 2024 | +1.0 | +1.0 | +3.1 | +3.9 | +5.1 | +2.8 | +2.2 | +1.4 | +2.7 | ±0.0 | −0.7 | +1.4 |
| 2025 | +1.2 | +4.0 | +5.6 | +4.6 | +3.8 | +2.0 | +1.3 | +1.1 | +1.0 | +1.3 | +4.0 | +0.8 |
+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 (Q2627794) · 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.
