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Iceland Iceland Waterfall

Æðarfossar

One of the waterfalls of Iceland.

When to go

AEdarfossar
Bromr · CC BY-SA 3.0

In numbers.

Jun–Jul
Sep

Best months

6m

Elevation

The water at Æðarfossar, month by month

It roars from May to June.

The fullest months: from May to June, with the snowmelt.

  1. 29%Jan
  2. 26%Feb
  3. 31%Mar
  4. 57%Apr
  5. 100%May
  6. 90%Jun
  7. 56%Jul
  8. 41%Aug
  9. 47%Sep
  10. 53%Oct
  11. 46%Nov
  12. 40%Dec
high water best months to go

Best months to go, with plenty of water and pleasant days: from June to July and September.

Estimate from rain, snowmelt and evaporation month by month (NASA POWER, 1991–2020) around the falls. Dams upstream can change the real flow.

Waterfall in Iceland

Æðarfossar is a waterfall in Iceland.

Getting there.

  • Norðurþingnearest town · 7.5 km in a straight line
  • Parking 1,820 m awaynearest car park in OpenStreetMap, straight line
  • Akureyri International Airport (AEY)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 47 km in a straight lineCar hire at AEY airport (Akureyri)Discover Cars · Affiliate link
  • From June to July and Septemberbest months to go (estimate)

Plan your visit

Stay, explore and get there

Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.

Seen from the sky.

8 × 8 km of cloud-free satellite image, with what OpenStreetMap knows around the falls.

Æðarfossar seen from above (Sentinel-2) N 2 km

Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 (EOX, CC BY 4.0), 8 × 8 km, north up. Points © OpenStreetMap contributors.

The Laxá through the falls
0 m5 mÆðarfossar-1.5 km-1 km-0.5 km0+0.5 km+1 km+1.5 km← upstreamdownstream →

The line follows the river as mapped in OpenStreetMap; heights from the 30 m Copernicus model, which smooths narrow drops — the published height of the falls is the one above.

The valley below the falls
−690 m+690 m

Around the falls the river drops 9 m in 3.6 km.

What is around.

  • 1viewpoints
  • —waymarked walking routes
  • 1car parks
  • —swimming spots
  • —picnic sites
  • —toilets
  • 1information boards and visitor centres
  • —bus stops within 1 km
  • —other named waterfalls within 4 km
  • —caves
  • —campsites
  • 18hotels, B&Bs and huts within 6 kmKaldbakskot, HI Hostel Berg, Laugarholt Apartment and 15 more
  • —restaurants and cafés within 3 km

Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit, up to 2 km around the falls (unless noted). A low number may just mean nobody has mapped it yet. © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).

Towns nearby

  • Norðurþing7.5 km in a straight line

Weather

The weather, month by month.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Afternoon °C001361113129420
Night °C-4-4-4-2268741-2-4
Rain & snow (mm)10286937877608493120128122119
Wet days191719161514171617201920
Sun h/day0.00.42.24.66.07.85.64.63.01.00.00.0
Snow on the ground (cm)779010083363005163455

Long-term averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, with temperatures carried to the height of the falls (6 m) at −6.5 °C per 1,000 m. Not a forecast.

Recent years

Wet years and dry years

Rain of each month as a share of the 1991–2020 average. A wet season above 100 % usually means a fuller waterfall.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
2020137%172%107%89%52%74%151%64%149%93%103%163%
2021138%91%135%65%40%137%67%35%154%178%94%41%
202258%132%65%68%160%217%143%205%58%179%86%59%
2023123%89%92%53%98%97%124%37%133%104%43%58%
202449%96%143%86%48%249%101%211%91%84%61%45%
202593%65%74%106%77%306%76%62%98%46%49%49%

130% wetter than usual 70% drier than usual

Compare with the waterfalls nearby.

Æðarfossar

Iceland

  • —Height
  • —Average flow
  • Jun–Jul, SepBest months

Goðafoss

Iceland

  • 12 mHeight
  • 70 m³/sAverage flow
  • Jun–JulBest months

See the guide

Dettifoss

Iceland

  • 44 mHeight
  • 200 m³/sAverage flow
  • Jun–AugBest months

See the guide

Selfoss

Iceland

  • 44 mHeight
  • 0.79 m³/sAverage flow
  • Jun–JulBest months

See the guide

About these numbers

Names, height, width, riverWikidata (Q14530263) · CC0
ClimateNASA POWER, 1991–2020
Relief, river profile, 3D modelCopernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA
Paths, viewpoints, parking© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL
ImagesEOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons

Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.

The family

Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers or canyons?

Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, month by month, in seven languages.