Canada 
In numbers.
0.23m³/s
Average flow
estimate
Jun–Jul
Best months
2,228m
Elevation
The water at Bow Glacier Falls, month by month
It roars from May to June.
The fullest months: from May to June, with the snowmelt. The thinnest: September and from November to March. Below −4 °C on average (from November to April): the falls can partly freeze.
- 0.1 m³/sJan
- 0.0 m³/sFeb
- 0.1 m³/sMar
- 0.3 m³/sApr
- 0.6 m³/sMay
- 0.7 m³/sJun
- 0.5 m³/sJul
- 0.2 m³/sAug
- 0.2 m³/sSep
- 0.2 m³/sOct
- 0.1 m³/sNov
- 0.1 m³/sDec
From about 0.04 m³/s in the lowest month to 0.71 m³/s in the highest. Best months to go, with plenty of water and pleasant days: from June to July.
Estimate: the timing comes from rain, snowmelt and evaporation (NASA POWER, 1991–2020); the amounts from the river model of HydroATLAS (WaterGAP, 1971–2000). Dams upstream can change the real flow.
Getting there.
- Calgary International Airport (YYC)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 183 km in a straight lineCar hire at YYC airport (Calgary)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- From June to Julybest 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.
N
2 km
Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 (EOX, CC BY 4.0), 8 × 8 km, north up. Points © OpenStreetMap contributors.
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.
Around the falls the river drops 384 m in 2.3 km.
What is around.
- 3viewpointsBow Glacier Falls
- —waymarked walking routes
- —car parks
- —swimming spots
- —picnic sites
- —toilets
- —information boards and visitor centres
- —bus stops within 1 km
- —other named waterfalls within 4 km
- —caves
- —campsites
- 2hotels, B&Bs and huts within 6 kmNum-Ti-Jah Lodge, Bow Hut
- —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).
Weather
The weather, month by month.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Afternoon °C | -10 | -9 | -6 | -2 | 4 | 11 | 15 | 14 | 8 | 0 | -7 | -11 |
| Night °C | -18 | -20 | -16 | -12 | -4 | 1 | 4 | 3 | -2 | -8 | -16 | -20 |
| Rain & snow (mm) | 69 | 56 | 89 | 70 | 82 | 117 | 86 | 70 | 80 | 86 | 90 | 66 |
| Wet days | 18 | 14 | 20 | 18 | 18 | 22 | 18 | 14 | 15 | 17 | 19 | 17 |
| Sun h/day | 1.9 | 4.2 | 4.5 | 6.4 | 7.4 | 6.4 | 8.5 | 8.0 | 5.4 | 3.4 | 1.3 | 1.7 |
| Snow on the ground (cm) | 77 | 91 | 103 | 94 | 39 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 9 | 17 | 34 | 59 |
Long-term averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, with temperatures carried to the height of the falls (2,228 m) at −6.5 °C per 1,000 m. Not a forecast.
Photos
Through visitors' eyes.
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.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 121% | 114% | 82% | 66% | 106% | 99% | 102% | 71% | 52% | 124% | 94% | 110% |
| 2021 | 75% | 110% | 63% | 57% | 116% | 87% | 42% | 147% | 83% | 68% | 162% | 147% |
| 2022 | 98% | 85% | 69% | 107% | 109% | 117% | 66% | 120% | 57% | 48% | 69% | 89% |
| 2023 | 40% | 121% | 43% | 101% | 96% | 108% | 105% | 111% | 71% | 63% | 51% | 109% |
| 2024 | 84% | 142% | 71% | 110% | 138% | 92% | 57% | 179% | 76% | 114% | 89% | 94% |
| 2025 | 41% | 61% | 140% | 79% | 92% | 105% | 199% | 91% | 45% | 61% | 102% | 254% |
130% wetter than usual 70% drier than usual
Compare with the waterfalls nearby.
Bow Glacier Falls
Canada
- —Height
- 0.23 m³/sAverage flow
- Jun–JulBest months
About these numbers
| Names, height, width, river | Wikidata (Q37865) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| River flow and catchment | HydroATLAS / RiverATLAS v1.0 (Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 |
| Climate | NASA POWER, 1991–2020 |
| Relief, river profile, 3D model | Copernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA |
| Paths, viewpoints, parking | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX 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.
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