Iceland 
In numbers.
0.42m³/s
Average flow
estimate
Jun–Sep
Best months
111m
Elevation
The water at Drífandi, month by month
It roars from September to May.
It carries water fairly evenly through the year.
- 1.0 m³/sJan
- 0.9 m³/sFeb
- 0.8 m³/sMar
- 0.8 m³/sApr
- 0.8 m³/sMay
- 0.5 m³/sJun
- 0.2 m³/sJul
- 0.2 m³/sAug
- 0.6 m³/sSep
- 0.8 m³/sOct
- 0.8 m³/sNov
- 0.9 m³/sDec
From about 0.22 m³/s in the lowest month to 0.96 m³/s in the highest. Best months to go, with plenty of water and pleasant days: from June to September.
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 Iceland, near Þórðarfoss
Drífandi is a waterfall in Iceland.
Getting there.
- Hvolsvöllurnearest town · 16 km in a straight line
- Parking 140 m awaynearest car park in OpenStreetMap, straight line
- Reykjavík Domestic Airport (RKV)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 109 km in a straight lineCar hire at RKV airport (Reykjavík)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- From June to 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.
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 94 m in 0.4 km.
What is around.
- 1viewpoints
- —waymarked walking routes
- 3car parks
- —swimming spots
- 3picnic sites
- —toilets
- 2information boards and visitor centres
- —bus stops within 1 km
- 2other named waterfalls within 4 kmGluggafoss, Þórðarfoss
- —caves
- 1campsitesFljótshlíð
- 7hotels, B&Bs and huts within 6 kmRauðuskriður, Hotel Fljótshlíð and 5 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
- Hvolsvöllur16 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 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 7 | 10 | 12 | 12 | 10 | 7 | 4 | 3 |
| Night °C | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 7 | 9 | 9 | 7 | 4 | 1 | 0 |
| Rain & snow (mm) | 244 | 222 | 216 | 159 | 112 | 105 | 123 | 143 | 221 | 203 | 206 | 244 |
| Wet days | 24 | 22 | 23 | 20 | 18 | 18 | 20 | 20 | 22 | 22 | 22 | 23 |
| Sun h/day | 0.2 | 1.5 | 3.4 | 5.8 | 7.9 | 7.7 | 6.7 | 6.1 | 4.0 | 2.3 | 0.5 | 0.2 |
| Snow on the ground (cm) | 44 | 57 | 67 | 55 | 19 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 13 | 27 |
Long-term averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, with temperatures carried to the height of the falls (111 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.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 129% | 99% | 97% | 104% | 117% | 141% | 85% | 136% | 114% | 54% | 104% | 77% |
| 2021 | 50% | 75% | 81% | 88% | 93% | 133% | 93% | 75% | 118% | 90% | 109% | 77% |
| 2022 | 133% | 103% | 174% | 75% | 107% | 102% | 136% | 136% | 69% | 61% | 86% | 36% |
| 2023 | 85% | 127% | 32% | 113% | 203% | 128% | 16% | 71% | 100% | 91% | 62% | 68% |
| 2024 | 88% | 71% | 73% | 66% | 115% | 107% | 123% | 120% | 63% | 74% | 98% | 118% |
| 2025 | 91% | 117% | 97% | 72% | 105% | 104% | 131% | 112% | 93% | 89% | 44% | 85% |
130% wetter than usual 70% drier than usual
Compare with the waterfalls nearby.
Drífandi
Iceland
- —Height
- 0.42 m³/sAverage flow
- Jun–SepBest months
About these numbers
| Names, height, width, river | Wikidata (Q2105110) · 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.
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.
beaches
Find your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit 
lakes
Every lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Coming soonVisit 
mountains
Every summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit 
waterfalls
Every waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.You are here
islands
Every island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Visit 
rivers
Every river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.Visit 
canyons
Every canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Visit