Japan 
In numbers.
0.63m³/s
Average flow
estimate
Aug–Nov
Best months
321m
Elevation
The water at Nanataki Falls, month by month
It roars in April and from August to January.
The fullest months: April and from August to January.
- 1.0 m³/sJan
- 0.6 m³/sFeb
- 0.8 m³/sMar
- 0.9 m³/sApr
- 0.7 m³/sMay
- 0.2 m³/sJun
- 0.7 m³/sJul
- 1.1 m³/sAug
- 1.2 m³/sSep
- 1.3 m³/sOct
- 1.5 m³/sNov
- 1.3 m³/sDec
From about 0.23 m³/s in the lowest month to 1.5 m³/s in the highest. Best months to go, with plenty of water and pleasant days: from August 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.
Getting there.
- Kosakanearest town · 5.2 km in a straight line
- Parking 190 m awaynearest car park in OpenStreetMap, straight line
- Odate Noshiro Airport (ONJ)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 39 km in a straight lineCar hire at AOJ airport (Aomori)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- From August 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 115 m in 1.9 km.
What is around.
- —viewpoints
- —waymarked walking routes
- 1car parks
- —swimming spots
- —picnic sites
- —toilets
- 1information boards and visitor centres
- —bus stops within 1 km
- —other named waterfalls within 4 km
- —caves
- —campsites
- 1hotels, B&Bs and huts within 6 kmブルートレインあけぼの
- —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).
Towns nearby
- Kosaka5.2 km in a straight line
- Kazuno16 km in a straight line
- Hanawa19 km in a straight line
- Ōdate21 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 | -2 | -1 | 4 | 11 | 18 | 22 | 26 | 27 | 22 | 15 | 8 | 1 |
| Night °C | -6 | -6 | -4 | 1 | 7 | 12 | 16 | 18 | 13 | 6 | 1 | -4 |
| Rain & snow (mm) | 107 | 83 | 87 | 92 | 100 | 97 | 163 | 170 | 147 | 142 | 147 | 144 |
| Wet days | 23 | 19 | 16 | 12 | 12 | 11 | 14 | 14 | 14 | 16 | 19 | 23 |
| Sun h/day | 1.2 | 2.2 | 3.8 | 5.4 | 5.9 | 5.7 | 4.3 | 5.2 | 5.1 | 4.2 | 2.4 | 1.3 |
| Snow on the ground (cm) | 20 | 20 | 13 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 16 |
Long-term averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, with temperatures carried to the height of the falls (321 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 | 109% | 120% | 127% | 130% | 87% | 110% | 155% | 82% | 151% | 81% | 94% | 102% |
| 2021 | 126% | 120% | 152% | 127% | 164% | 78% | 57% | 102% | 53% | 109% | 131% | 125% |
| 2022 | 134% | 88% | 122% | 50% | 79% | 165% | 50% | 371% | 74% | 107% | 107% | 125% |
| 2023 | 90% | 85% | 102% | 159% | 183% | 146% | 151% | 25% | 191% | 137% | 159% | 96% |
| 2024 | 149% | 114% | 103% | 68% | 122% | 115% | 161% | 102% | 92% | 117% | 88% | 128% |
| 2025 | 143% | 129% | 155% | 208% | 132% | 152% | 27% | 262% | 179% | 103% | 195% | 187% |
130% wetter than usual 70% drier than usual
Compare with the waterfalls nearby.
Nanataki Falls
Japan
- —Height
- 0.63 m³/sAverage flow
- Aug–NovBest months
About these numbers
| Names, height, width, river | Wikidata (Q10864690) · 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
Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers or canyons?
Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, month by month, in seven languages.
beaches
Find your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit 
lakes
Every lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Coming soonVisit 
mountains
Every summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit 
waterfalls
Every waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.You are here
islands
Every island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Visit 
rivers
Every river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.Visit 
canyons
Every canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Visit