
In numbers.
0.80m³/s
Average flow
estimate
Apr–May
Aug
Oct
Best months
41m
Elevation
The water at Sudmaļi waterfalls, month by month
It roars in August and from October to May.
It carries water fairly evenly through the year.
- 0.9 m³/sJan
- 0.8 m³/sFeb
- 0.8 m³/sMar
- 1.7 m³/sApr
- 0.9 m³/sMay
- 0.5 m³/sJun
- 0.4 m³/sJul
- 0.7 m³/sAug
- 0.4 m³/sSep
- 1.3 m³/sOct
- 1.5 m³/sNov
- 0.8 m³/sDec
From about 0.38 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: from April to May, August 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.
Sudmaļi waterfalls is a waterfall in Latvia.
Getting there.
- Sabilenearest town · 7.1 km in a straight line
- Riga International Airport (RIX)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 93 km in a straight lineCar hire at RIX airport (Riga)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- From April to May, August 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 25 m in 2.7 km.
What is around.
- —viewpoints
- 1waymarked walking routesE11 section 94: Renda – Sabile
- —car parks
- —swimming spots
- 4picnic sites
- —toilets
- —information boards and visitor centres
- —bus stops within 1 km
- 4other named waterfalls within 4 kmAbavas rumba, Valgales ūdenskritums, Veģupītes ūdenskritums and 1 more
- —caves
- 1campsitesAbavas rumba
- 1hotels, 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
- Sabile7.1 km in a straight line
- Stende8.8 km in a straight line
- Kandava19 km in a straight line
- Talsi20 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 | -1 | 3 | 10 | 16 | 20 | 22 | 22 | 17 | 10 | 5 | 1 |
| Night °C | -6 | -6 | -4 | 1 | 6 | 10 | 14 | 13 | 9 | 4 | 1 | -3 |
| Rain & snow (mm) | 50 | 39 | 39 | 38 | 46 | 63 | 73 | 71 | 53 | 66 | 63 | 56 |
| Wet days | 13 | 11 | 11 | 10 | 10 | 12 | 13 | 13 | 11 | 14 | 14 | 14 |
| Sun h/day | 0.3 | 1.8 | 4.7 | 7.3 | 9.5 | 9.4 | 8.9 | 7.3 | 5.0 | 2.4 | 0.1 | 0.0 |
| Snow on the ground (cm) | 18 | 18 | 15 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 15 |
Long-term averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, with temperatures carried to the height of the falls (41 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 | 63% | 122% | 127% | 45% | 84% | 116% | 85% | 87% | 73% | 111% | 70% | 61% |
| 2021 | 130% | 32% | 107% | 97% | 152% | 39% | 80% | 193% | 63% | 69% | 101% | 104% |
| 2022 | 155% | 162% | 14% | 97% | 122% | 106% | 84% | 103% | 57% | 52% | 53% | 105% |
| 2023 | 161% | 103% | 129% | 68% | 44% | 135% | 99% | 246% | 89% | 195% | 93% | 120% |
| 2024 | 82% | 149% | 67% | 142% | 117% | 123% | 193% | 127% | 88% | 61% | 72% | 93% |
| 2025 | 179% | 52% | 70% | 97% | 132% | 127% | 154% | 93% | 111% | 108% | 54% | 78% |
130% wetter than usual 70% drier than usual
Compare with the waterfalls nearby.
About these numbers
| Names, height, width, river | Wikidata (Q23759814) · 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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