France 
In numbers.
14m
Height
1.1m³/s
Average flow
estimate
Mar–May
Nov
Best months
145kW
Water power
estimate
The water at Saut de l'Ognon, month by month
It roars from October to June.
It carries water fairly evenly through the year.
- 1.7 m³/sJan
- 1.4 m³/sFeb
- 1.8 m³/sMar
- 1.3 m³/sApr
- 1.5 m³/sMay
- 0.9 m³/sJun
- 0.5 m³/sJul
- 0.5 m³/sAug
- 0.4 m³/sSep
- 1.1 m³/sOct
- 1.3 m³/sNov
- 1.6 m³/sDec
From about 0.39 m³/s in the lowest month to 1.8 m³/s in the highest. Best months to go, with plenty of water and pleasant days: from March to May and 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.
Saut de l'Ognon is a waterfall in France. The water falls 14 m.
Getting there.
- Plancher-les-Minesnearest town · 7.2 km in a straight line
- Parking 250 m awaynearest car park in OpenStreetMap, straight line
- EuroAirport Basel–Mulhouse–Freiburg (BSL)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 67 km in a straight lineCar hire at BSL airport (Bâle / Mulhouse)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- From March to May and 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.
How big is it?
How big it really is.
Height of the drop from Wikidata. Buildings and the person are drawn at the same scale.
145 kW
About 1.1 m³/s falling 14 m: the power of the water as it drops.
- enough to power about 36 homes, if it were all turned into electricity
Power of falling water = density × gravity × flow × height. Average flow and height as shown above; an estimate.
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 28 m in 3.5 km. Here the river runs about 74 m below the lower rim of its valley.
What is around.
- —viewpoints
- 3waymarked walking routesSentier de la Haute Vallée de l'Ognon
- 7car parks
- —swimming spots
- 3picnic sites
- 1toilets
- 6information boards and visitor centres
- 1bus stops within 1 km
- 1other named waterfalls within 4 kmCascades du Champé
- —caves
- 6campsitesAire de stationnement Esmoulières, Aire La Chèvrerie des Bois Pâturés, Zeltplatz Manu and 3 more
- 12hotels, B&Bs and huts within 6 kmGîtes Le Creux, L'École de Belmont, Le Brodequin and 9 more
- 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
- Plancher-les-Mines7.2 km in a straight line
- Mélisey9.6 km in a straight line
- Le Thillot10 km in a straight line
- Ramonchamp11 km in a straight line
- Plancher-Bas11 km in a straight line
- Fresse-sur-Moselle11 km in a straight line
- Champagney12 km in a straight line
- Lepuix12 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 | 3 | 5 | 10 | 14 | 18 | 22 | 24 | 24 | 20 | 15 | 8 | 4 |
| Night °C | -2 | -2 | 0 | 4 | 8 | 12 | 14 | 13 | 9 | 6 | 2 | -1 |
| Rain & snow (mm) | 78 | 63 | 69 | 60 | 94 | 83 | 78 | 85 | 67 | 84 | 78 | 90 |
| Wet days | 13 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 15 | 14 | 14 | 13 | 11 | 13 | 14 | 15 |
| Sun h/day | 1.7 | 2.9 | 4.7 | 6.5 | 6.9 | 8.1 | 7.9 | 7.0 | 6.1 | 3.8 | 1.8 | 1.3 |
| Snow on the ground (cm) | 13 | 13 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 12 |
Long-term averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, with temperatures carried to the height of the falls (400 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 | 52% | 201% | 100% | 32% | 80% | 144% | 32% | 83% | 80% | 143% | 35% | 121% |
| 2021 | 146% | 84% | 80% | 57% | 135% | 167% | 187% | 77% | 63% | 80% | 63% | 102% |
| 2022 | 63% | 96% | 29% | 141% | 36% | 109% | 23% | 65% | 132% | 102% | 119% | 75% |
| 2023 | 94% | 27% | 144% | 120% | 44% | 35% | 90% | 111% | 50% | 151% | 213% | 105% |
| 2024 | 98% | 115% | 121% | 122% | 166% | 155% | 100% | 69% | 189% | 118% | 67% | 83% |
| 2025 | 125% | 59% | 41% | 88% | 43% | 108% | 101% | 99% | 175% | 105% | 99% | 29% |
130% wetter than usual 70% drier than usual
Compare with the waterfalls nearby.
Saut de l'Ognon
France
- 14 mHeight
- 1.1 m³/sAverage flow
- Mar–May, NovBest months
About these numbers
| Names, height, width, river | Wikidata (Q21099819) · 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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