France 
In numbers.
3.1m³/s
Average flow
estimate
Mar–Jun
Best months
548m
Elevation
The water at Cascade de la Billaude, month by month
It roars from October to June.
It carries water fairly evenly through the year.
- 4.2 m³/sJan
- 3.4 m³/sFeb
- 4.4 m³/sMar
- 3.7 m³/sApr
- 4.4 m³/sMay
- 3.2 m³/sJun
- 2.0 m³/sJul
- 1.9 m³/sAug
- 1.2 m³/sSep
- 2.6 m³/sOct
- 3.0 m³/sNov
- 3.8 m³/sDec
From about 1.2 m³/s in the lowest month to 4.4 m³/s in the highest. Best months to go, with plenty of water and pleasant days: from March to June.
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.
Cascade de la Billaude is a waterfall in France.
Getting there.
- Champagnolenearest town · 7.3 km in a straight line
- Parking 90 m awaynearest car park in OpenStreetMap, straight line
- Geneva International Airport (GVA)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 51 km in a straight lineCar hire at GVA airport (Geneva)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- From March to Junebest 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 129 m in 3.1 km. Here the river runs about 57 m below the lower rim of its valley.
What is around.
- 6viewpointsCascade de la Billaude, Belvédère à Taiclet, Belvédère des Prés Grillet and 3 more
- 4waymarked walking routesChampagnole Nozeroy Jura, Pont de la Chaux - Bourg-de-Sirod and 2 more
- 8car parks
- —swimming spots
- 9picnic sites
- —toilets
- 4information boards and visitor centres
- —bus stops within 1 km
- —other named waterfalls within 4 km
- 3caves
- 3campsitesLe Temps de Vivre, Camping du Bois Joli, Camping du Lac de Narlay
- 15hotels, B&Bs and huts within 6 kmHôtel Restaurant des Lacs, Chambres d'Hôtes, Les Chamois Gîtes Chambres d'Hôtes and 12 more
- 4restaurants 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
- Champagnole7.3 km in a straight line
- Saint-Laurent-en-Grandvaux11 km in a straight line
- Morbier17 km in a straight line
- Morez18 km in a straight line
- Clairvaux-les-Lacs19 km in a straight line
- Bois-d'Amont22 km in a straight line
- Le Chenit24 km in a straight line
- Les Rousses24 km in a straight line
Weather
The weather, month by month.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Afternoon °C | 4 | 5 | 9 | 14 | 18 | 22 | 25 | 24 | 20 | 15 | 9 | 4 |
| Night °C | -2 | -2 | 1 | 5 | 9 | 14 | 15 | 15 | 11 | 7 | 2 | -1 |
| Rain & snow (mm) | 96 | 75 | 92 | 82 | 117 | 107 | 101 | 107 | 80 | 103 | 100 | 108 |
| Wet days | 13 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 16 | 15 | 14 | 13 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 14 |
| Sun h/day | 3.3 | 4.4 | 5.5 | 6.3 | 6.6 | 8.5 | 8.9 | 7.9 | 6.9 | 5.0 | 3.1 | 2.6 |
| Snow on the ground (cm) | 16 | 15 | 9 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 15 |
Long-term averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, with temperatures carried to the height of the falls (548 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 | 56% | 175% | 92% | 50% | 93% | 142% | 37% | 99% | 104% | 203% | 25% | 89% |
| 2021 | 116% | 62% | 57% | 47% | 132% | 121% | 171% | 61% | 82% | 77% | 57% | 157% |
| 2022 | 50% | 116% | 24% | 120% | 43% | 99% | 32% | 67% | 221% | 88% | 127% | 124% |
| 2023 | 91% | 12% | 145% | 127% | 61% | 59% | 80% | 82% | 77% | 164% | 260% | 162% |
| 2024 | 122% | 102% | 103% | 115% | 146% | 117% | 90% | 92% | 256% | 146% | 69% | 110% |
| 2025 | 155% | 52% | 50% | 104% | 81% | 101% | 109% | 100% | 201% | 151% | 147% | 29% |
130% wetter than usual 70% drier than usual
Compare with the waterfalls nearby.
Cascade de la Billaude
France
- —Height
- 3.1 m³/sAverage flow
- Mar–JunBest months
Cascade du Bief de la Ruine
France
- 110 mHeight
- 2.5 m³/sAverage flow
- Apr–Jun, OctBest months
About these numbers
| Names, height, width, river | Wikidata (Q2940852) · 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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