Iceland 
In numbers.
0.58m³/s
Average flow
estimate
Jun–Aug
Best months
460m
Elevation
The water at Ófærufoss, month by month
It roars from September to June.
It carries water fairly evenly through the year. Below −4 °C on average (from December to February): the falls can partly freeze.
- 1.2 m³/sJan
- 1.1 m³/sFeb
- 0.9 m³/sMar
- 1.2 m³/sApr
- 1.4 m³/sMay
- 0.8 m³/sJun
- 0.3 m³/sJul
- 0.3 m³/sAug
- 0.9 m³/sSep
- 1.1 m³/sOct
- 1.1 m³/sNov
- 1.2 m³/sDec
From about 0.28 m³/s in the lowest month to 1.4 m³/s in the highest. Best months to go, with plenty of water and pleasant days: from June to August.
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
Ófærufoss is a waterfall in Iceland. It lies within Vatnajökull National Park. It is part of a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Getting there.
- Parking 490 m awaynearest car park in OpenStreetMap, straight line
- Reykjavík Domestic Airport (RKV)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 163 km in a straight lineCar hire at RKV airport (Reykjavík)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- From June to Augustbest 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 170 m in 3.6 km. Here the river runs about 123 m below the lower rim of its valley.
What is around.
- 3viewpointsÓfærufoss
- 1waymarked walking routesSkælingar - Hólaskjól
- 3car parks
- —swimming spots
- 1picnic sites
- 1toilets
- 1information boards and visitor centres
- —bus stops within 1 km
- 1other named waterfalls within 4 kmOfærufoss
- —caves
- 2campsitesSkælingar
- —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 | -2 | -2 | -1 | 2 | 5 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 7 | 3 | 0 | -2 |
| Night °C | -7 | -7 | -6 | -3 | 0 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 2 | -2 | -5 | -7 |
| Rain & snow (mm) | 236 | 219 | 208 | 170 | 123 | 122 | 147 | 159 | 224 | 220 | 210 | 236 |
| Wet days | 23 | 21 | 23 | 20 | 20 | 19 | 21 | 21 | 22 | 22 | 22 | 23 |
| Sun h/day | 0.9 | 2.6 | 6.3 | 10.2 | 11.9 | 11.0 | 9.1 | 7.4 | 5.2 | 3.4 | 1.3 | 0.7 |
| Snow on the ground (cm) | 50 | 64 | 75 | 56 | 17 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 12 | 20 | 32 |
Long-term averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, with temperatures carried to the height of the falls (460 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 | 111% | 100% | 91% | 102% | 109% | 118% | 79% | 122% | 117% | 64% | 85% | 88% |
| 2021 | 46% | 95% | 80% | 89% | 60% | 142% | 67% | 66% | 126% | 112% | 99% | 81% |
| 2022 | 115% | 90% | 182% | 77% | 138% | 108% | 98% | 111% | 69% | 61% | 123% | 34% |
| 2023 | 85% | 125% | 60% | 122% | 171% | 123% | 20% | 62% | 111% | 94% | 56% | 64% |
| 2024 | 89% | 66% | 88% | 62% | 109% | 103% | 103% | 131% | 69% | 85% | 92% | 98% |
| 2025 | 96% | 137% | 94% | 68% | 88% | 106% | 129% | 115% | 130% | 67% | 46% | 98% |
130% wetter than usual 70% drier than usual
Compare with the waterfalls nearby.
Ófærufoss
Iceland
- —Height
- 0.58 m³/sAverage flow
- Jun–AugBest months
About these numbers
| Names, height, width, river | Wikidata (Q292937) · 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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