
In numbers.
83m³/s
Average flow
estimate
May–Jun
Aug–Sep
Best months
72m
Elevation
The water at Leirfossen,øvre, month by month
It roars in June and from September to April.
It carries water fairly evenly through the year.
- 198 m³/sJan
- 158 m³/sFeb
- 138 m³/sMar
- 116 m³/sApr
- 49 m³/sMay
- 59 m³/sJun
- 28 m³/sJul
- 43 m³/sAug
- 133 m³/sSep
- 113 m³/sOct
- 81 m³/sNov
- 163 m³/sDec
From about 28 m³/s in the lowest month to 198 m³/s in the highest. Best months to go, with plenty of water and pleasant days: from May to June and from August 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.
Leirfossen,øvre is a waterfall on the Nidelva, in Norway.
Getting there.
- Trondheimnearest town · 6.6 km in a straight line
- Parking 900 m awaynearest car park in OpenStreetMap, straight line
- Trondheim Airport, Værnes (TRD)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 27 km in a straight lineCar hire at TRD airport (Trondheim)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- From May to June and from August 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.
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 25 m below the lower rim of its valley.
What is around.
- 3viewpoints
- 3waymarked walking routesØsterdalsleden, Leirfossrunden, Tillerrunden
- 166car parks
- —swimming spots
- 31picnic sites
- 2toilets
- 1information boards and visitor centres
- 13bus stops within 1 km
- —other named waterfalls within 4 km
- —caves
- 8campsitesBålplassen, Steinalderplassen, Estenstaddammen and 5 more
- 7hotels, B&Bs and huts within 6 kmSandmoen Bed and Breakfast, Singsaker Sommerhotell, Scandic Lerkendal and 4 more
- 21restaurants 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
- Trondheim6.6 km in a straight line
- Klæbu8.9 km in a straight line
- Melhus12 km in a straight line
- Malvik15 km in a straight line
- Børsa18 km in a straight line
- Hommelvik19 km in a straight line
- Skaun23 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 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 13 | 16 | 19 | 18 | 14 | 8 | 3 | 1 |
| Night °C | -4 | -5 | -3 | 1 | 5 | 9 | 11 | 11 | 8 | 3 | -1 | -3 |
| Rain & snow (mm) | 129 | 112 | 118 | 94 | 94 | 134 | 133 | 136 | 148 | 123 | 122 | 140 |
| Wet days | 20 | 18 | 19 | 16 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 20 | 18 | 19 | 17 | 20 |
| Sun h/day | 0.4 | 1.8 | 4.2 | 6.8 | 7.1 | 7.0 | 6.9 | 5.8 | 3.7 | 2.3 | 0.7 | 0.3 |
| Snow on the ground (cm) | 20 | 21 | 21 | 11 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 12 | 17 |
Long-term averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, with temperatures carried to the height of the falls (72 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 | 152% | 163% | 119% | 169% | 145% | 55% | 143% | 95% | 112% | 79% | 120% | 37% |
| 2021 | 47% | 52% | 154% | 145% | 70% | 101% | 69% | 180% | 129% | 201% | 137% | 94% |
| 2022 | 213% | 115% | 101% | 106% | 162% | 112% | 171% | 119% | 73% | 127% | 36% | 57% |
| 2023 | 108% | 114% | 94% | 71% | 119% | 80% | 94% | 153% | 114% | 127% | 43% | 59% |
| 2024 | 110% | 101% | 37% | 100% | 45% | 121% | 123% | 133% | 110% | 145% | 165% | 149% |
| 2025 | 95% | 76% | 206% | 137% | 159% | 165% | 75% | 132% | 49% | 143% | 136% | 99% |
130% wetter than usual 70% drier than usual
Compare with the waterfalls nearby.
About these numbers
| Names, height, width, river | Wikidata (Q34755641) · 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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