Canada 
In numbers.
0.48m³/s
Average flow
estimate
May–Jun
Oct
Best months
628m
Elevation
The water at Rainbow Falls, month by month
It roars from March to May and from November to January.
The fullest months: from March to May and from November to January, with the snowmelt. The thinnest: from July to September.
- 0.8 m³/sJan
- 0.6 m³/sFeb
- 0.8 m³/sMar
- 0.9 m³/sApr
- 0.8 m³/sMay
- 0.5 m³/sJun
- 0.3 m³/sJul
- 0.2 m³/sAug
- 0.3 m³/sSep
- 0.6 m³/sOct
- 0.9 m³/sNov
- 0.8 m³/sDec
From about 0.22 m³/s in the lowest month to 0.93 m³/s in the highest. Best months to go, with plenty of water and pleasant days: from May to June and October.
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.
Perennial plunge waterfall located near Harrison Lake, British Columbia, Canada
Rainbow Falls is a waterfall in Canada.
Getting there.
- Harrison Hot Springsnearest town · 12 km in a straight line
- Abbotsford International Airport (YXX)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 61 km in a straight lineCar hire at YXX airport (Abbotsford)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- From May to June and Octoberbest 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 836 m in 2.2 km. Here the river runs about 80 m below the lower rim of its valley.
What is around.
- 4viewpoints
- —waymarked walking routes
- —car parks
- —swimming spots
- —picnic sites
- 1toilets
- 1information boards and visitor centres
- —bus stops within 1 km
- 1other named waterfalls within 4 kmRainbow Falls, Slollicum Falls
- —caves
- 6campsitesHicks Lake Group Campsite, Hicks Lake Provincial Campground, Bench Campground and 3 more
- —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).
Towns nearby
- Harrison Hot Springs12 km in a straight line
- Agassiz19 km in a straight line
- Popkum22 km in a straight line
- Hope22 km in a straight line
- Rosedale24 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 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 8 | 15 | 18 | 22 | 22 | 17 | 11 | 4 | 0 |
| Night °C | -5 | -6 | -2 | 1 | 6 | 9 | 12 | 12 | 9 | 4 | -1 | -6 |
| Rain & snow (mm) | 242 | 137 | 200 | 120 | 95 | 85 | 50 | 53 | 104 | 191 | 271 | 221 |
| Wet days | 21 | 17 | 21 | 18 | 16 | 16 | 11 | 10 | 12 | 19 | 22 | 21 |
| Sun h/day | 2.7 | 4.3 | 5.4 | 7.3 | 7.7 | 7.6 | 10.5 | 9.3 | 6.7 | 4.2 | 2.2 | 2.1 |
| Snow on the ground (cm) | 64 | 77 | 73 | 32 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 20 | 38 |
Long-term averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, with temperatures carried to the height of the falls (628 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 | 171% | 142% | 70% | 64% | 145% | 160% | 153% | 94% | 128% | 113% | 115% | 121% |
| 2021 | 110% | 147% | 62% | 58% | 71% | 55% | 22% | 131% | 205% | 118% | 176% | 110% |
| 2022 | 87% | 81% | 74% | 109% | 140% | 174% | 102% | 69% | 18% | 70% | 58% | 107% |
| 2023 | 58% | 141% | 57% | 130% | 72% | 78% | 64% | 110% | 86% | 57% | 75% | 104% |
| 2024 | 104% | 117% | 68% | 114% | 120% | 160% | 81% | 233% | 90% | 122% | 78% | 115% |
| 2025 | 24% | 123% | 115% | 80% | 97% | 83% | 104% | 182% | 100% | 115% | 85% | 201% |
130% wetter than usual 70% drier than usual
Compare with the waterfalls nearby.
Rainbow Falls
Canada
- —Height
- 0.48 m³/sAverage flow
- May–Jun, OctBest months
About these numbers
| Names, height, width, river | Wikidata (Q37712) · 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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