Australia 
In numbers.
69m³/s
Average flow
estimate
Jan–Apr
Best months
6m
Elevation
The water at Leichhardt Falls, month by month
It roars from February to March.
The fullest months: from February to March. The thinnest: from May to December.
- 179 m³/sJan
- 247 m³/sFeb
- 239 m³/sMar
- 129 m³/sApr
- 49 m³/sMay
- 10 m³/sJun
- 5.3 m³/sJul
- 5.1 m³/sAug
- 5.0 m³/sSep
- 5.6 m³/sOct
- 15 m³/sNov
- 51 m³/sDec
From about 5.0 m³/s in the lowest month to 247 m³/s in the highest. Best months to go, with plenty of water and pleasant days: from January to April.
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.
- Normanton Airport (NTN)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 140 km in a straight lineCar hire at ISA airport (Mount Isa)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- From January to Aprilbest 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.
Here the river runs about 15 m below the lower rim of its valley.
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 | 33 | 33 | 33 | 33 | 31 | 28 | 28 | 30 | 34 | 36 | 37 | 36 |
| Night °C | 26 | 25 | 24 | 21 | 18 | 15 | 14 | 15 | 20 | 23 | 25 | 26 |
| Rain & snow (mm) | 242 | 190 | 127 | 34 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 11 | 47 | 107 |
| Wet days | 23 | 20 | 14 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 10 | 17 |
| Sun h/day | 6.3 | 6.9 | 7.8 | 8.9 | 8.5 | 8.4 | 8.8 | 9.4 | 9.9 | 10.0 | 9.3 | 8.1 |
Long-term averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, with temperatures carried to the height of the falls (6 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 | 83% | 53% | 39% | 30% | 90% | — | — | — | — | 158% | 62% | 126% |
| 2021 | 59% | 84% | 44% | 99% | 5% | — | — | — | — | 141% | 113% | 87% |
| 2022 | 81% | 45% | 40% | 54% | 125% | — | — | — | — | 279% | 157% | 137% |
| 2023 | 67% | 103% | 133% | 49% | 0% | — | — | — | — | 37% | 73% | 24% |
| 2024 | 87% | 101% | 129% | 41% | 53% | — | — | — | — | 109% | 109% | 84% |
| 2025 | 32% | 104% | 195% | 167% | 15% | — | — | — | — | 146% | 106% | 218% |
130% wetter than usual 70% drier than usual
About these numbers
| Names, height, width, river | Wikidata (Q941249) · 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.
The family
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