New Zealand 
In numbers.
0.42m³/s
Average flow
estimate
May–Aug
Best months
75m
Elevation
The water at Owharoa Falls, month by month
It roars from May to August.
The fullest months: from May to August.
- 0.2 m³/sJan
- 0.2 m³/sFeb
- 0.3 m³/sMar
- 0.4 m³/sApr
- 0.6 m³/sMay
- 0.7 m³/sJun
- 0.7 m³/sJul
- 0.6 m³/sAug
- 0.5 m³/sSep
- 0.4 m³/sOct
- 0.2 m³/sNov
- 0.3 m³/sDec
From about 0.24 m³/s in the lowest month to 0.69 m³/s in the highest. Best months to go, with plenty of water and pleasant days: from May 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.
Getting there.
- Waihinearest town · 7.4 km in a straight line
- Parking 130 m awaynearest car park in OpenStreetMap, straight line
- Tauranga Airport (TRG)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 47 km in a straight lineCar hire at TRG airport (Tauranga)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- From May 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 62 m in 2.0 km. Here the river runs about 48 m below the lower rim of its valley.
What is around.
- 1viewpointsOwharoa Falls
- 1waymarked walking routesPaWa Paeroa to Waihi Rail Trail (Hiking)
- 10car parks
- —swimming spots
- —picnic sites
- 1toilets
- 2information boards and visitor centres
- —bus stops within 1 km
- 1other named waterfalls within 4 kmDickey Flat Waterfalls
- —caves
- 3campsitesWaihi Motor Camp, Dickey Flat Campsite, Dickey Flat Adventure Camp
- 2hotels, B&Bs and huts within 6 kmPalm Motel, Waikino Hotel
- 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).
Towns nearby
- Waihi7.4 km in a straight line
- Paeroa10 km in a straight line
- Te Aroha13 km in a straight line
- Waihi Beach15 km in a straight line
- Katikati20 km in a straight line
- Waitoa25 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 | 24 | 24 | 22 | 20 | 17 | 14 | 13 | 14 | 16 | 18 | 20 | 22 |
| Night °C | 14 | 15 | 13 | 11 | 9 | 8 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 11 | 13 |
| Rain & snow (mm) | 66 | 75 | 81 | 100 | 114 | 115 | 117 | 103 | 89 | 84 | 57 | 95 |
| Wet days | 9 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 14 | 14 | 14 | 16 | 14 | 13 | 11 | 12 |
| Sun h/day | 8.4 | 7.3 | 6.9 | 5.8 | 4.7 | 4.1 | 4.5 | 5.1 | 5.5 | 6.3 | 7.2 | 7.2 |
Long-term averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, with temperatures carried to the height of the falls (75 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 | 24% | 14% | 67% | 32% | 113% | 201% | 130% | 129% | 60% | 73% | 171% | 33% |
| 2021 | 65% | 101% | 94% | 67% | 86% | 124% | 119% | 99% | 183% | 157% | 93% | 114% |
| 2022 | 40% | 202% | 176% | 76% | 131% | 190% | 256% | 121% | 228% | 174% | 384% | 163% |
| 2023 | 585% | 297% | 87% | 122% | 236% | 166% | 86% | 70% | 209% | 104% | 155% | 122% |
| 2024 | 109% | 80% | 109% | 85% | 120% | 113% | 117% | 112% | 77% | 140% | 131% | 86% |
| 2025 | 122% | 56% | 68% | 207% | 131% | 184% | 211% | 124% | 140% | 155% | 315% | 98% |
130% wetter than usual 70% drier than usual
Compare with the waterfalls nearby.
Owharoa Falls
New Zealand
- —Height
- 0.42 m³/sAverage flow
- May–AugBest months
About these numbers
| Names, height, width, river | Wikidata (Q7114790) · 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.
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