Canada 
In numbers.
0.38m³/s
Average flow
estimate
Apr–Jun
Oct
Best months
209m
Elevation
The water at Grindstone Cascade, month by month
It roars from March to May.
The fullest months: from March to May. Below −4 °C on average (from January to February): the falls can partly freeze.
- 0.4 m³/sJan
- 0.6 m³/sFeb
- 0.9 m³/sMar
- 1.4 m³/sApr
- 1.4 m³/sMay
- 0.8 m³/sJun
- 0.4 m³/sJul
- 0.1 m³/sAug
- 0.3 m³/sSep
- 0.8 m³/sOct
- 0.6 m³/sNov
- 0.2 m³/sDec
From about 0.13 m³/s in the lowest month to 1.4 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.
Getting there.
- Waterdownnearest town · 0.6 km in a straight line
- Parking 580 m awaynearest car park in OpenStreetMap, straight line
- John C. Munro Hamilton International Airport (YHM)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 18 km in a straight lineCar hire at YHM airport (Hamilton)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.
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 54 m in 0.8 km. Here the river runs about 22 m below the lower rim of its valley.
What is around.
- 1viewpoints
- 1waymarked walking routesBruce Trail - Iroquoia section
- 128car parks
- —swimming spots
- —picnic sites
- —toilets
- 2information boards and visitor centres
- 10bus stops within 1 km
- —other named waterfalls within 4 km
- —caves
- 1campsitesLost Forest Park & Camping Resort
- 6hotels, B&Bs and huts within 6 kmKnights Inn, Royal Inn, City View Inn and 3 more
- 30restaurants 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
- Waterdown0.6 km in a straight line
- Burlington7.6 km in a straight line
- Hamilton9.2 km in a straight line
- Ancaster15 km in a straight line
- Stoney Creek16 km in a straight line
- Milton21 km in a straight line
- Oakville21 km in a straight line
- Binbrook24 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 | -2 | -1 | 4 | 12 | 20 | 25 | 29 | 28 | 24 | 15 | 8 | 1 |
| Night °C | -10 | -10 | -5 | 0 | 7 | 13 | 16 | 16 | 12 | 5 | -1 | -6 |
| Rain & snow (mm) | 51 | 48 | 52 | 70 | 74 | 73 | 78 | 63 | 70 | 74 | 63 | 56 |
| Wet days | 10 | 8 | 9 | 11 | 12 | 12 | 13 | 11 | 11 | 12 | 11 | 11 |
| Sun h/day | 2.5 | 3.3 | 4.9 | 6.1 | 7.3 | 8.4 | 8.5 | 7.8 | 6.7 | 3.9 | 2.8 | 2.0 |
| Snow on the ground (cm) | 18 | 17 | 14 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 17 |
Long-term averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, with temperatures carried to the height of the falls (209 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 | 146% | 49% | 92% | 50% | 62% | 70% | 67% | 123% | 71% | 76% | 83% | 97% |
| 2021 | 46% | 60% | 63% | 64% | 38% | 109% | 102% | 75% | 189% | 115% | 62% | 88% |
| 2022 | 50% | 120% | 90% | 68% | 84% | 70% | 67% | 92% | 45% | 44% | 54% | 99% |
| 2023 | 98% | 107% | 110% | 115% | 46% | 96% | 146% | 129% | 29% | 73% | 61% | 112% |
| 2024 | 136% | 50% | 92% | 117% | 97% | 86% | 132% | 107% | 52% | 47% | 68% | 106% |
| 2025 | 45% | 107% | 108% | 82% | 92% | 79% | 71% | 71% | 75% | 68% | 66% | 117% |
130% wetter than usual 70% drier than usual
Compare with the waterfalls nearby.
Grindstone Cascade
Canada
- —Height
- 0.38 m³/sAverage flow
- Apr–Jun, OctBest months
About these numbers
| Names, height, width, river | Wikidata (Q37895) · 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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