Canada 
In numbers.
10m
Height
1,155m³/s
Average flow
estimate
Apr–Jun
Oct
Best months
113MW
Water power
estimate
The water at Chaudière Falls, month by month
It roars from March to July and in October.
The fullest months: from March to July and October. Below −4 °C on average (from December to February): the falls can partly freeze.
- 783 m³/sJan
- 872 m³/sFeb
- 1,280 m³/sMar
- 2,020 m³/sApr
- 2,366 m³/sMay
- 2,007 m³/sJun
- 1,236 m³/sJul
- 709 m³/sAug
- 661 m³/sSep
- 1,274 m³/sOct
- 924 m³/sNov
- 1,011 m³/sDec
From about 661 m³/s in the lowest month to 2,366 m³/s in the highest. Best months to go, with plenty of water and pleasant days: from April to June and October.
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.
Waterfalls on the Ottawa River
Chaudière Falls is a waterfall in Canada. The water falls 10 m.
Getting there.
- Hullnearest town · 1.2 km in a straight line
- Parking 640 m awaynearest car park in OpenStreetMap, straight line
- Ottawa / Rockcliffe Airport (YRO)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 8 km in a straight lineCar hire at YOW airport (Ottawa)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- From April to June and Octoberbest 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.
How big is it?
How big it really is.
Height of the drop from Wikidata. Buildings and the person are drawn at the same scale.
113 MW
About 1,155 m³/s falling 10 m: the power of the water as it drops.
- as much as 38 large wind turbines
- enough to power about 28,300 homes, if it were all turned into electricity
Power of falling water = density × gravity × flow × height. Average flow and height as shown above; an estimate.
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 6 m in 1.8 km.
What is around.
- 23viewpointsKìwekì Point Lookout, Chaudière Falls, View on the River and 20 more
- 5waymarked walking routesRideau Trail - Ottawa Section, Confederation Boulevard - Sussex Drive, Confederation Boulevard - Elgin Street and 2 more
- 611car parks
- 2swimming spotsEast Wharf Dock, Canadian Museum of History Dock
- 104picnic sites
- 16toilets
- 77information boards and visitor centres
- 64bus stops within 1 km
- 2other named waterfalls within 4 kmRideau Falls
- —caves
- 1campsitesTree house
- 73hotels, B&Bs and huts within 6 kmSwiss Hotel, Hilton Garden Inn, Duvernay Studios & Suites and 70 more
- 621restaurants 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
- Hull1.2 km in a straight line
- Hintonburg1.9 km in a straight line
- Centretown2.1 km in a straight line
- Ottawa2.2 km in a straight line
- ByWard Market2.4 km in a straight line
- Lowertown2.6 km in a straight line
- The Glebe3.1 km in a straight line
- Sandy Hill3.4 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 | -6 | -4 | 2 | 11 | 19 | 24 | 26 | 26 | 22 | 13 | 6 | -2 |
| Night °C | -16 | -15 | -8 | 0 | 7 | 13 | 16 | 15 | 10 | 4 | -2 | -10 |
| Rain & snow (mm) | 61 | 55 | 64 | 85 | 85 | 104 | 98 | 88 | 87 | 99 | 73 | 80 |
| Wet days | 13 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 16 | 16 | 14 | 13 | 14 | 13 | 14 |
| Sun h/day | 3.2 | 5.0 | 6.2 | 6.4 | 7.1 | 7.8 | 8.4 | 7.7 | 6.5 | 3.8 | 2.7 | 1.9 |
| Snow on the ground (cm) | 20 | 21 | 16 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 12 | 19 |
Long-term averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, with temperatures carried to the height of the falls (46 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 | 158% | 97% | 136% | 77% | 56% | 73% | 83% | 159% | 64% | 86% | 77% | 99% |
| 2021 | 60% | 87% | 94% | 58% | 31% | 104% | 114% | 53% | 120% | 116% | 84% | 76% |
| 2022 | 64% | 118% | 98% | 108% | 108% | 96% | 75% | 175% | 79% | 37% | 89% | 120% |
| 2023 | 117% | 115% | 86% | 117% | 67% | 69% | 136% | 111% | 29% | 89% | 54% | 106% |
| 2024 | 102% | 38% | 65% | 106% | 92% | 138% | 127% | 140% | 64% | 46% | 84% | 103% |
| 2025 | 46% | 120% | 122% | 107% | 74% | 61% | 60% | 60% | 39% | 111% | 94% | 77% |
130% wetter than usual 70% drier than usual
Compare with the waterfalls nearby.
Chaudière Falls
Canada
- 10 mHeight
- 1,155 m³/sAverage flow
- Apr–Jun, OctBest months
About these numbers
| Names, height, width, river | Wikidata (Q4525916) · 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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