New Zealand 
In numbers.
0.73m³/s
Average flow
estimate
Jan
May
Oct–Nov
Best months
155m
Elevation
The water at Helena Falls, month by month
It runs all year.
It carries water fairly evenly through the year.
- 0.8 m³/sJan
- 0.5 m³/sFeb
- 0.6 m³/sMar
- 0.6 m³/sApr
- 0.9 m³/sMay
- 0.8 m³/sJun
- 0.7 m³/sJul
- 0.5 m³/sAug
- 0.8 m³/sSep
- 1.1 m³/sOct
- 1.0 m³/sNov
- 0.8 m³/sDec
From about 0.53 m³/s in the lowest month to 1.1 m³/s in the highest. Best months to go, with plenty of water and pleasant days: January, May 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 Southland, New Zealand
Helena Falls is a coastal waterfall in New Zealand. It lies within Fiordland National Park.
Getting there.
- Queenstown Airport (ZQN)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 133 km in a straight lineCar hire at ZQN airport (Queenstown)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- January, May 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 421 m in 2.2 km.
What is around.
- —viewpoints
- —waymarked walking routes
- —car parks
- —swimming spots
- —picnic sites
- —toilets
- 1information boards and visitor centres
- —bus stops within 1 km
- 3other named waterfalls within 4 kmAlderson Falls, Huntleigh Falls, Lady Alice Falls
- —caves
- —campsites
- 1hotels, B&Bs and huts within 6 kmDeep Cove Hostel
- —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 | 17 | 17 | 16 | 14 | 11 | 10 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 14 | 16 |
| Night °C | 10 | 10 | 10 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 9 |
| Rain & snow (mm) | 258 | 222 | 235 | 231 | 254 | 221 | 219 | 203 | 246 | 266 | 251 | 250 |
| Wet days | 20 | 18 | 19 | 21 | 23 | 22 | 22 | 23 | 22 | 23 | 21 | 21 |
| Sun h/day | 6.4 | 6.0 | 5.0 | 3.9 | 2.6 | 2.5 | 2.8 | 3.8 | 4.4 | 5.3 | 6.0 | 6.5 |
| Snow on the ground (cm) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 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 (155 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 | 59% | 107% | 78% | 117% | 59% | 65% | 87% | 96% | 146% | 125% | 56% | 125% |
| 2021 | 103% | 34% | 73% | 112% | 106% | 131% | 140% | 140% | 123% | 82% | 128% | 107% |
| 2022 | 31% | 95% | 24% | 59% | 49% | 69% | 55% | 61% | 24% | 38% | 43% | 35% |
| 2023 | 24% | 46% | 93% | 67% | 175% | 84% | 126% | 118% | 128% | 78% | 95% | 124% |
| 2024 | 142% | 169% | 119% | 139% | 76% | 84% | 78% | 158% | 161% | 139% | 99% | 102% |
| 2025 | 46% | 71% | 88% | 94% | 49% | 57% | 39% | 96% | 163% | 159% | 137% | 121% |
130% wetter than usual 70% drier than usual
Compare with the waterfalls nearby.
Helena Falls
New Zealand
- —Height
- 0.73 m³/sAverage flow
- Jan, May, Oct–NovBest months
About these numbers
| Names, height, width, river | Wikidata (Q5703569) · 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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