New Zealand 
In numbers.
112m
Height
OpenStreetMap
0.35m³/s
Average flow
estimate
Oct–Jan
Best months
382kW
Water power
estimate
The water at Devils Punchbowl Falls, month by month
It roars from May to January.
It carries water fairly evenly through the year.
- 0.3 m³/sJan
- 0.2 m³/sFeb
- 0.2 m³/sMar
- 0.3 m³/sApr
- 0.4 m³/sMay
- 0.5 m³/sJun
- 0.4 m³/sJul
- 0.4 m³/sAug
- 0.4 m³/sSep
- 0.5 m³/sOct
- 0.4 m³/sNov
- 0.5 m³/sDec
From about 0.20 m³/s in the lowest month to 0.52 m³/s in the highest. Best months to go, with plenty of water and pleasant days: from October to January.
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.
Waterfall in New Zealand
Devils Punchbowl Falls is a waterfall in New Zealand. The water falls 112 m. It lies within Arthur's Pass National Park.
Getting there.
- Parking 670 m awaynearest car park in OpenStreetMap, straight line
- Hokitika Airfield (HKK)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 53 km in a straight lineCar hire at CHC airport (Christchurch)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- From October to Januarybest 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 as mapped in OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors). Buildings and the person are drawn at the same scale.
382 kW
About 0.35 m³/s falling 112 m: the power of the water as it drops.
- enough to power about 96 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 524 m in 2.5 km. Here the river runs about 57 m below the lower rim of its valley.
What is around.
- 6viewpointsDevils Punchbowl lookout, Bridal Veil Falls lookout and 4 more
- 6waymarked walking routesAvalanche Peak, Mount Bealey, Mount Aicken and 3 more
- 7car parks
- —swimming spots
- 8picnic sites
- 2toilets
- 19information boards and visitor centres
- —bus stops within 1 km
- —other named waterfalls within 4 km
- —caves
- 2campsitesAvalanche Creek Shelter Campsite, Greyneys
- 9hotels, B&Bs and huts within 6 kmAlpine Motel, Canterbury University Snow Sports Club (CUSSC) Lodge, Ferrier Lodge (Temple Basin Ski Area) and 6 more
- 2restaurants 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 | 16 | 16 | 14 | 11 | 8 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 8 | 10 | 12 | 15 |
| Night °C | 6 | 6 | 5 | 3 | 1 | -1 | -2 | -1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 5 |
| Rain & snow (mm) | 120 | 98 | 107 | 122 | 132 | 148 | 110 | 115 | 121 | 146 | 125 | 148 |
| Wet days | 14 | 12 | 14 | 15 | 17 | 17 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 16 | 17 |
| Sun h/day | 7.3 | 7.3 | 6.1 | 4.7 | 3.5 | 3.1 | 3.6 | 4.2 | 4.6 | 5.3 | 6.3 | 6.7 |
| Snow on the ground (cm) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 10 | 12 | 8 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 0 |
Long-term averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, with temperatures carried to the height of the falls (986 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 | 29% | 71% | 86% | 58% | 51% | 76% | 82% | 62% | 80% | 76% | 89% | 76% |
| 2021 | 69% | 34% | 77% | 64% | 120% | 76% | 77% | 107% | 77% | 73% | 66% | 120% |
| 2022 | 33% | 242% | 41% | 38% | 92% | 84% | 263% | 115% | 58% | 58% | 117% | 51% |
| 2023 | 59% | 137% | 144% | 110% | 119% | 56% | 147% | 66% | 93% | 55% | 55% | 73% |
| 2024 | 85% | 61% | 48% | 54% | 41% | 71% | 71% | 118% | 90% | 101% | 63% | 99% |
| 2025 | 64% | 47% | 86% | 142% | 79% | 87% | 84% | 59% | 78% | 92% | 61% | 66% |
130% wetter than usual 70% drier than usual
Compare with the waterfalls nearby.
Devils Punchbowl Falls
New Zealand
- 112 mHeight
- 0.35 m³/sAverage flow
- Oct–JanBest months
About these numbers
| Names, height, width, river | Wikidata (Q32178821) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| Height of the drop | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| 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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