Iceland 
In numbers.
2.1m³/s
Average flow
estimate
Jun
Sep
Best months
87m
Elevation
The water at Rjúkandafoss, month by month
It roars in October and from December to April.
The fullest months: October and from December to April.
- 4.1 m³/sJan
- 4.3 m³/sFeb
- 4.0 m³/sMar
- 3.6 m³/sApr
- 2.7 m³/sMay
- 1.6 m³/sJun
- 1.2 m³/sJul
- 1.6 m³/sAug
- 3.0 m³/sSep
- 3.2 m³/sOct
- 3.0 m³/sNov
- 4.1 m³/sDec
From about 1.2 m³/s in the lowest month to 4.3 m³/s in the highest. Best months to go, with plenty of water and pleasant days: June and September.
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 (Snæfellsnes)
Rjúkandafoss is a waterfall in Iceland.
Getting there.
- Parking 1,260 m awaynearest car park in OpenStreetMap, straight line
- Reykjavík Domestic Airport (RKV)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 88 km in a straight lineCar hire at RKV airport (Reykjavík)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- June and Septemberbest 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 56 m in 3.6 km. Here the river runs about 23 m below the lower rim of its valley.
What is around.
- 1viewpoints
- —waymarked walking routes
- 1car parks
- —swimming spots
- —picnic sites
- —toilets
- —information boards and visitor centres
- —bus stops within 1 km
- —other named waterfalls within 4 km
- —caves
- —campsites
- —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 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 8 | 12 | 14 | 13 | 9 | 5 | 2 | 1 |
| Night °C | -3 | -3 | -2 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 8 | 8 | 5 | 2 | -1 | -2 |
| Rain & snow (mm) | 141 | 130 | 124 | 102 | 80 | 68 | 81 | 102 | 141 | 123 | 121 | 142 |
| Wet days | 21 | 19 | 20 | 17 | 15 | 14 | 15 | 17 | 19 | 18 | 19 | 20 |
| Sun h/day | 0.0 | 0.8 | 3.0 | 5.3 | 7.6 | 9.3 | 7.4 | 5.9 | 3.3 | 1.4 | 0.1 | 0.1 |
| Snow on the ground (cm) | 22 | 20 | 18 | 11 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 16 | 16 |
Long-term averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, with temperatures carried to the height of the falls (87 m) at −6.5 °C per 1,000 m. Not a forecast.
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 | 135% | 95% | 105% | 105% | 122% | 165% | 74% | 142% | 104% | 83% | 95% | 108% |
| 2021 | 73% | 63% | 115% | 107% | 40% | 151% | 129% | 92% | 166% | 122% | 125% | 61% |
| 2022 | 136% | 97% | 152% | 88% | 110% | 119% | 134% | 113% | 74% | 60% | 70% | 43% |
| 2023 | 83% | 174% | 51% | 85% | 224% | 164% | 23% | 63% | 73% | 102% | 49% | 60% |
| 2024 | 97% | 58% | 90% | 63% | 170% | 105% | 189% | 111% | 70% | 91% | 111% | 127% |
| 2025 | 93% | 116% | 138% | 62% | 98% | 104% | 128% | 118% | 97% | 82% | 41% | 95% |
130% wetter than usual 70% drier than usual
Compare with the waterfalls nearby.
Rjúkandafoss
Iceland
- —Height
- 2.1 m³/sAverage flow
- Jun, SepBest months
About these numbers
| Names, height, width, river | Wikidata (Q131839679) · 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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