Canada 
In numbers.
141m
Height
38m³/s
Average flow
estimate
May–Jun
Best months
52MW
Water power
estimate
The water at Helmcken Falls, month by month
It roars in May.
The fullest months: May, with the snowmelt. The thinnest: from August to September and from December to February. Below −4 °C on average (from December to February): the falls can partly freeze.
- 11 m³/sJan
- 7.9 m³/sFeb
- 28 m³/sMar
- 69 m³/sApr
- 98 m³/sMay
- 71 m³/sJun
- 40 m³/sJul
- 22 m³/sAug
- 24 m³/sSep
- 30 m³/sOct
- 35 m³/sNov
- 16 m³/sDec
From about 7.9 m³/s in the lowest month to 98 m³/s in the highest. Best months to go, with plenty of water and pleasant days: from May to June.
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 Wells Gray Provincial Park, British Columbia, Canada
Helmcken Falls is a waterfall in Canada. The water falls 141 m. It lies within Wells Gray Provincial Park.
Getting there.
- Parking 520 m awaynearest car park in OpenStreetMap, straight line
- Williams Lake Airport (YWL)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 131 km in a straight lineCar hire at YWL airport (Williams Lake)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- From May to Junebest 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 from Wikidata. Buildings and the person are drawn at the same scale.
52 MW
About 38 m³/s falling 141 m: the power of the water as it drops.
- as much as 17 large wind turbines
- enough to power about 13,100 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 204 m in 3.6 km. Here the river runs about 34 m below the lower rim of its valley.
What is around.
- 5viewpointsHelmcken Falls and 4 more
- —waymarked walking routes
- 1car parks
- —swimming spots
- 4picnic sites
- 2toilets
- 6information boards and visitor centres
- —bus stops within 1 km
- 6other named waterfalls within 4 kmDawson Falls, Sylvia Falls, Goodwin Falls and 3 more
- —caves
- 1campsitesPyramid Campground
- —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 | -3 | -2 | 2 | 6 | 15 | 20 | 23 | 22 | 17 | 9 | 1 | -4 |
| Night °C | -11 | -11 | -6 | -1 | 6 | 10 | 13 | 12 | 7 | 1 | -6 | -12 |
| Rain & snow (mm) | 91 | 64 | 84 | 66 | 72 | 97 | 76 | 57 | 76 | 99 | 103 | 78 |
| Wet days | 18 | 15 | 18 | 15 | 15 | 18 | 15 | 12 | 12 | 16 | 19 | 17 |
| Sun h/day | 1.6 | 3.9 | 4.2 | 6.2 | 7.4 | 6.0 | 7.5 | 7.2 | 4.9 | 2.7 | 0.9 | 1.3 |
| Snow on the ground (cm) | 74 | 90 | 92 | 58 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 13 | 25 | 50 |
Long-term averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, with temperatures carried to the height of the falls (750 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 | 218% | 156% | 106% | 82% | 129% | 135% | 173% | 82% | 95% | 182% | 115% | 120% |
| 2021 | 127% | 164% | 67% | 73% | 105% | 61% | 30% | 122% | 117% | 106% | 158% | 119% |
| 2022 | 148% | 150% | 110% | 86% | 103% | 137% | 64% | 140% | 50% | 45% | 65% | 122% |
| 2023 | 87% | 182% | 49% | 105% | 117% | 82% | 49% | 122% | 65% | 59% | 69% | 139% |
| 2024 | 134% | 174% | 86% | 130% | 128% | 87% | 51% | 154% | 127% | 151% | 112% | 157% |
| 2025 | 71% | 92% | 147% | 89% | 113% | 89% | 142% | 163% | 83% | 94% | 92% | 199% |
130% wetter than usual 70% drier than usual
Compare with the waterfalls nearby.
Helmcken Falls
Canada
- 141 mHeight
- 38 m³/sAverage flow
- May–JunBest months
About these numbers
| Names, height, width, river | Wikidata (Q747408) · 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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