United Kingdom 
In numbers.
1.1m³/s
Average flow
estimate
Mar
Sep–Nov
Best months
146m
Elevation
The water at Pistyll Cain, month by month
It roars from October to February.
The fullest months: from October to February.
- 1.6 m³/sJan
- 1.2 m³/sFeb
- 1.0 m³/sMar
- 0.7 m³/sApr
- 0.5 m³/sMay
- 0.5 m³/sJun
- 0.6 m³/sJul
- 0.7 m³/sAug
- 0.8 m³/sSep
- 1.2 m³/sOct
- 1.5 m³/sNov
- 1.7 m³/sDec
From about 0.50 m³/s in the lowest month to 1.7 m³/s in the highest. Best months to go, with plenty of water and pleasant days: March and from September 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.
- Trawsfynyddnearest town · 8.5 km in a straight line
- Parking 1,170 m awaynearest car park in OpenStreetMap, straight line
- Liverpool John Lennon Airport (LPL)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 89 km in a straight lineCar hire at LPL airport (Liverpool)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- March and from September 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 105 m in 2.0 km.
What is around.
- 1viewpoints
- —waymarked walking routes
- 8car parks
- —swimming spots
- 3picnic sites
- 1toilets
- —information boards and visitor centres
- —bus stops within 1 km
- 1other named waterfalls within 4 kmRhaeadr Mawddach
- —caves
- 2campsitesCae Gwyn Farm Holidays, Trawsfynydd Holiday Village
- 4hotels, B&Bs and huts within 6 kmPlas Dolmelynllyn, Tŷ Capel Carmel, Rhiw Goch Bunkhouse and 1 more
- 2restaurants 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
- Trawsfynydd8.5 km in a straight line
- Dolgellau9.8 km in a straight line
- Dyffryn Ardudwy14 km in a straight line
- Maentwrog15 km in a straight line
- Llanbedr15 km in a straight line
- Tal-y-bont16 km in a straight line
- Harlech16 km in a straight line
- Barmouth17 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 | 6 | 6 | 8 | 11 | 14 | 17 | 18 | 18 | 16 | 13 | 9 | 7 |
| Night °C | 3 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 7 | 10 | 12 | 12 | 10 | 8 | 6 | 4 |
| Rain & snow (mm) | 126 | 104 | 94 | 77 | 87 | 99 | 112 | 119 | 108 | 135 | 142 | 148 |
| Wet days | 20 | 18 | 17 | 16 | 16 | 16 | 19 | 21 | 18 | 20 | 22 | 21 |
| Sun h/day | 1.1 | 2.4 | 4.1 | 5.9 | 6.7 | 6.3 | 6.1 | 5.4 | 4.4 | 2.6 | 1.4 | 0.9 |
| Snow on the ground (cm) | 6 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 5 |
Long-term averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, with temperatures carried to the height of the falls (146 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 | 94% | 262% | 116% | 53% | 22% | 142% | 134% | 138% | 77% | 152% | 102% | 156% |
| 2021 | 173% | 117% | 127% | 24% | 210% | 44% | 73% | 71% | 96% | 146% | 66% | 118% |
| 2022 | 42% | 185% | 47% | 67% | 91% | 53% | 58% | 43% | 106% | 111% | 116% | 77% |
| 2023 | 110% | 31% | 169% | 110% | 40% | 60% | 154% | 116% | 143% | 148% | 113% | 132% |
| 2024 | 133% | 150% | 139% | 153% | 122% | 59% | 96% | 82% | 112% | 79% | 56% | 119% |
| 2025 | 118% | 59% | 30% | 87% | 72% | 111% | 74% | 44% | 201% | 94% | 133% | 114% |
130% wetter than usual 70% drier than usual
Compare with the waterfalls nearby.
Pistyll Cain
United Kingdom
- —Height
- 1.1 m³/sAverage flow
- Mar, Sep–NovBest months
About these numbers
| Names, height, width, river | Wikidata (Q23766747) · 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