New Zealand 
In numbers.
5.6m³/s
Average flow
estimate
May–Jul
Nov
Best months
6m
Elevation
The water at Niagara Falls, month by month
It roars from April to July and from October to January.
The fullest months: from April to July and from October to January.
- 4.7 m³/sJan
- 4.1 m³/sFeb
- 3.7 m³/sMar
- 4.5 m³/sApr
- 7.1 m³/sMay
- 6.8 m³/sJun
- 5.8 m³/sJul
- 4.2 m³/sAug
- 4.3 m³/sSep
- 5.5 m³/sOct
- 5.4 m³/sNov
- 4.8 m³/sDec
From about 3.7 m³/s in the lowest month to 7.1 m³/s in the highest. Best months to go, with plenty of water and pleasant days: from May to July and 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.
Rapids of the Waikawa River, South Island, New Zealand
Niagara Falls is a waterfall in New Zealand.
Getting there.
- Invercargill Airport (IVC)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 66 km in a straight lineCar hire at IVC airport (Invercargill)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- From May to July and 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 8 m in 3.5 km. Here the river runs about 18 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
- 2other named waterfalls within 4 kmLanger Falls, Margaret Falls
- —caves
- 2campsitesOvernight Stay for SC Vehicles, Niagara NZMCA Park
- 1hotels, B&Bs and huts within 6 kmPinguin Paradise Backpackers
- 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 | 18 | 18 | 17 | 14 | 12 | 9 | 9 | 10 | 12 | 14 | 15 | 18 |
| Night °C | 10 | 10 | 9 | 8 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 8 | 9 |
| Rain & snow (mm) | 88 | 75 | 72 | 76 | 92 | 73 | 66 | 61 | 69 | 85 | 83 | 83 |
| Wet days | 15 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 17 | 17 | 16 | 15 | 15 | 17 | 16 | 15 |
| Sun h/day | 7.3 | 6.9 | 5.6 | 4.3 | 3.0 | 2.7 | 3.1 | 4.3 | 5.5 | 6.6 | 7.1 | 7.6 |
| Snow on the ground (cm) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
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 | 57% | 163% | 85% | 92% | 21% | 63% | 142% | 97% | 142% | 107% | 61% | 90% |
| 2021 | 165% | 50% | 61% | 75% | 91% | 125% | 89% | 121% | 126% | 61% | 92% | 83% |
| 2022 | 46% | 88% | 21% | 98% | 90% | 89% | 210% | 80% | 79% | 86% | 85% | 69% |
| 2023 | 24% | 86% | 150% | 68% | 103% | 90% | 148% | 95% | 127% | 52% | 68% | 82% |
| 2024 | 98% | 107% | 129% | 113% | 69% | 113% | 109% | 87% | 140% | 175% | 97% | 104% |
| 2025 | 55% | 46% | 97% | 77% | 70% | 147% | 50% | 90% | 142% | 136% | 76% | 121% |
130% wetter than usual 70% drier than usual
Compare with the waterfalls nearby.
Niagara Falls
New Zealand
- —Height
- 5.6 m³/sAverage flow
- May–Jul, NovBest months
About these numbers
| Names, height, width, river | Wikidata (Q104702894) · 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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