Iceland 
In numbers.
40m
Height
OpenStreetMap
0.34m³/s
Average flow
estimate
Jun–Sep
Best months
133kW
Water power
estimate
The water at Kvernufoss, month by month
It roars from September to May.
It carries water fairly evenly through the year.
- 0.8 m³/sJan
- 0.7 m³/sFeb
- 0.6 m³/sMar
- 0.6 m³/sApr
- 0.7 m³/sMay
- 0.4 m³/sJun
- 0.2 m³/sJul
- 0.2 m³/sAug
- 0.5 m³/sSep
- 0.6 m³/sOct
- 0.7 m³/sNov
- 0.8 m³/sDec
From about 0.16 m³/s in the lowest month to 0.77 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
Kvernufoss is a waterfall in Iceland. The water falls 40 m.
Getting there.
- Parking 640 m awaynearest car park in OpenStreetMap, straight line
- Reykjavík Domestic Airport (RKV)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 138 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.
How big is it?
How big it really is.
Height of the drop as mapped in OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors). Buildings and the person are drawn at the same scale.
133 kW
About 0.34 m³/s falling 40 m: the power of the water as it drops.
- enough to power about 33 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 142 m in 2.6 km. Here the river runs about 81 m below the lower rim of its valley.
What is around.
- 3viewpointsSkógafoss Viewpoint
- 1waymarked walking routesFimmvörðuháls
- 10car parks
- —swimming spots
- 4picnic sites
- 2toilets
- 3information boards and visitor centres
- —bus stops within 1 km
- 12other named waterfalls within 4 kmGluggafoss, Skálabrekkufoss, Fremri-Fellsfoss and 9 more
- —caves
- 1campsitesTjaldsvæðið við Skógafoss
- 13hotels, B&Bs and huts within 6 kmSkógar, Hotel Skógafoss Apartments, Skógafoss Guesthouse and 10 more
- 1restaurants 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 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 7 | 11 | 12 | 12 | 10 | 6 | 4 | 3 |
| Night °C | -1 | -1 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 7 | 9 | 9 | 7 | 4 | 1 | -1 |
| Rain & snow (mm) | 293 | 268 | 258 | 194 | 136 | 128 | 151 | 176 | 262 | 250 | 250 | 291 |
| Wet days | 24 | 22 | 23 | 21 | 19 | 19 | 21 | 21 | 23 | 22 | 22 | 24 |
| 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) | 49 | 66 | 78 | 64 | 22 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 14 | 30 |
Long-term averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, with temperatures carried to the height of the falls (83 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 | 123% | 101% | 96% | 104% | 117% | 132% | 82% | 131% | 110% | 58% | 98% | 76% |
| 2021 | 48% | 82% | 77% | 87% | 87% | 141% | 84% | 69% | 117% | 96% | 103% | 79% |
| 2022 | 128% | 102% | 171% | 74% | 114% | 99% | 124% | 129% | 69% | 60% | 102% | 38% |
| 2023 | 83% | 125% | 38% | 119% | 192% | 127% | 17% | 66% | 98% | 90% | 60% | 64% |
| 2024 | 87% | 71% | 77% | 64% | 111% | 105% | 122% | 121% | 63% | 74% | 98% | 111% |
| 2025 | 91% | 121% | 91% | 69% | 98% | 106% | 131% | 112% | 104% | 77% | 44% | 90% |
130% wetter than usual 70% drier than usual
Compare with the waterfalls nearby.
Kvernufoss
Iceland
- 40 mHeight
- 0.34 m³/sAverage flow
- Jun–SepBest months
About these numbers
| Names, height, width, river | Wikidata (Q2683317) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| Height of the drop | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| 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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