United States 
In numbers.
32m
Height
OpenStreetMap
69m³/s
Average flow
estimate
Mar–May
Nov
Best months
21MW
Water power
estimate
The water at Sunset Falls, month by month
It roars from November to May.
The fullest months: from November to May, with the snowmelt. The thinnest: from July to September.
- 101 m³/sJan
- 82 m³/sFeb
- 91 m³/sMar
- 86 m³/sApr
- 79 m³/sMay
- 52 m³/sJun
- 27 m³/sJul
- 18 m³/sAug
- 26 m³/sSep
- 57 m³/sOct
- 95 m³/sNov
- 101 m³/sDec
From about 18 m³/s in the lowest month to 101 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.
Waterfall in Washington, USA
Sunset Falls is a waterfall on the South Fork Skykomish River, in United States. The water falls 32 m.
Getting there.
- Gold Barnearest town · 12 km in a straight line
- Parking 1,170 m awaynearest car park in OpenStreetMap, straight line
- Seattle Paine Field International Airport (PAE)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 56 km in a straight lineCar hire at SEA airport (Seattle)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 as mapped in OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors). Buildings and the person are drawn at the same scale.
21 MW
About 69 m³/s falling 32 m: the power of the water as it drops.
- as much as 7.1 large wind turbines
- enough to power about 5,400 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 45 m in 3.6 km. Here the river runs about 101 m below the lower rim of its valley.
What is around.
- 6viewpointsBridal Veil Falls Viewpoint, Canyon Falls Viewpoint and 4 more
- 5waymarked walking routesLake Serene Trail, Heybrook Lookout Trail, Bridal Veil Falls Trail and 2 more
- 7car parks
- —swimming spots
- 3picnic sites
- 8toilets
- 3information boards and visitor centres
- —bus stops within 1 km
- 7other named waterfalls within 4 kmBridal Veil Falls-Lower East Cascade, Logjam Falls, Bridal Veil Falls-Upper Cascade and 4 more
- 1caves
- —campsites
- 5hotels, B&Bs and huts within 6 kmBaring Bend Lodge, Mt. Index Cabin, Bush House and 2 more
- 4restaurants 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
- Gold Bar12 km in a straight line
- Sultan21 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 | 12 | 18 | 21 | 26 | 26 | 22 | 15 | 9 | 5 |
| Night °C | 1 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 9 | 12 | 15 | 15 | 12 | 8 | 3 | 0 |
| Rain & snow (mm) | 267 | 174 | 215 | 136 | 103 | 80 | 33 | 42 | 86 | 197 | 284 | 256 |
| Wet days | 21 | 18 | 21 | 19 | 17 | 15 | 9 | 8 | 11 | 17 | 21 | 21 |
| Sun h/day | 2.2 | 4.0 | 4.3 | 6.0 | 7.2 | 7.9 | 10.9 | 9.6 | 7.3 | 4.4 | 2.3 | 1.8 |
| Snow on the ground (cm) | 52 | 60 | 57 | 38 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 18 | 34 |
Long-term averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, with temperatures carried to the height of the falls (158 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 | 192% | 175% | 75% | 72% | 167% | 160% | 105% | 56% | 150% | 135% | 119% | 113% |
| 2021 | 111% | 195% | 56% | 50% | 92% | 90% | 32% | 112% | 188% | 127% | 167% | 122% |
| 2022 | 124% | 109% | 71% | 140% | 189% | 190% | 85% | 61% | 15% | 72% | 90% | 114% |
| 2023 | 55% | 115% | 68% | 121% | 65% | 77% | 49% | 89% | 106% | 46% | 85% | 123% |
| 2024 | 118% | 109% | 69% | 91% | 118% | 180% | 79% | 193% | 62% | 99% | 97% | 122% |
| 2025 | 34% | 115% | 129% | 70% | 81% | 46% | 148% | 217% | 102% | 116% | 99% | 223% |
130% wetter than usual 70% drier than usual
Compare with the waterfalls nearby.
Sunset Falls
United States
- 32 mHeight
- 69 m³/sAverage flow
- Mar–May, NovBest months
About these numbers
| Names, height, width, river | Wikidata (Q37999) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| Height of the drop | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| 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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