New Zealand 
In numbers.
0.43m³/s
Average flow
estimate
Jan
Jun
Oct–Nov
Best months
48m
Elevation
The water at Grainger Falls, month by month
It runs all year.
It carries water fairly evenly through the year.
- 0.6 m³/sJan
- 0.4 m³/sFeb
- 0.3 m³/sMar
- 0.4 m³/sApr
- 0.5 m³/sMay
- 0.5 m³/sJun
- 0.4 m³/sJul
- 0.4 m³/sAug
- 0.5 m³/sSep
- 0.6 m³/sOct
- 0.5 m³/sNov
- 0.4 m³/sDec
From about 0.32 m³/s in the lowest month to 0.58 m³/s in the highest. Best months to go, with plenty of water and pleasant days: January, June and from October to November.
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
Grainger Falls is a waterfall in New Zealand. It lies within Fiordland National Park.
Getting there.
- Invercargill Airport (IVC)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 145 km in a straight lineCar hire at IVC airport (Invercargill)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- January, June and from October to Novemberbest 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 36 m in 0.9 km.
What is around.
- —viewpoints
- —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
- —hotels, B&Bs and huts within 6 km
- —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 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 14 | 13 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 12 | 14 |
| Night °C | 12 | 13 | 12 | 12 | 11 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 10 | 12 |
| Rain & snow (mm) | 249 | 189 | 196 | 210 | 215 | 200 | 185 | 184 | 210 | 229 | 212 | 214 |
| Wet days | 21 | 19 | 21 | 21 | 25 | 23 | 23 | 24 | 22 | 23 | 21 | 22 |
| Sun h/day | 6.4 | 6.0 | 5.0 | 3.9 | 2.6 | 2.5 | 2.7 | 3.7 | 4.4 | 5.3 | 6.0 | 6.5 |
Long-term averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, with temperatures carried to the height of the falls (48 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 | 90% | 137% | 103% | 125% | 62% | 80% | 88% | 122% | 116% | 115% | 72% | 119% |
| 2021 | 112% | 125% | 79% | 84% | 86% | 101% | 134% | 114% | 127% | 77% | 108% | 105% |
| 2022 | 68% | 82% | 65% | 92% | 97% | 86% | 90% | 88% | 51% | 77% | 64% | 74% |
| 2023 | 48% | 54% | 96% | 60% | 144% | 72% | 121% | 94% | 102% | 76% | 68% | 118% |
| 2024 | 118% | 144% | 127% | 112% | 72% | 84% | 68% | 100% | 116% | 123% | 96% | 106% |
| 2025 | 69% | 62% | 105% | 76% | 69% | 83% | 83% | 67% | 146% | 141% | 145% | 118% |
130% wetter than usual 70% drier than usual
Compare with the waterfalls nearby.
Grainger Falls
New Zealand
- —Height
- 0.43 m³/sAverage flow
- Jan, Jun, Oct–NovBest months
About these numbers
| Names, height, width, river | Wikidata (Q5593515) · 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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