Niagara Falls Conditions Today

It depends on the time of day and the date. Under the 1950 Niagara Treaty the flow over the falls is held to at least 100,000 cubic feet per second between 8 a.m. and 10 p.m. from 1 April to 15 September, and between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. from 16 September to 31 October. At all other times u2014 overnight, and right through the winter u2014 it drops to a minimum of 50,000 cubic feet per second, with the rest diverted for hydroelectric power. One catch almost every guide gets wrong: the treaty sets those hours in Eastern Standard Time, not local time, so during the whole summer season the change actually happens an hour later than the quoted times u2014 9 a.m. and 11 p.m. on your phone.

Whichever side is downwind. The mist column rises from the Horseshoe Falls plunge pool and drifts with the wind, so a southwesterly pushes it over the American-side viewpoints u2014 Cave of the Winds and the Maid of the Mist landing u2014 while a southeasterly pushes it onto Table Rock and the Ontario promenade. The panel above works out which viewpoints are downwind from the current wind direction and tells you the rule it used. In light winds under about 8 km/h the spray mostly rises straight up and drifts very little.

The falls are illuminated every night of the year, from dusk until at least 1 a.m., and it is free to watch from anywhere along Queen Victoria Park or from Prospect Point on the American side. The start time follows the sunset: 8:30 p.m. from mid-May through July, stepping back through the autumn to 4:30 p.m. from November onward. The current night’s start time is shown above.

Ontario-side weather is the Environment and Climate Change Canada observation for Niagara Falls, Ontario. New York-side weather is the US National Weather Service observation from Niagara Falls International Airport (KIAG). Air quality is the nearest Environment Canada AQHI station. Bridge waits come from U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the exchange rate from the Bank of Canada, and the flow schedule from the International Joint Commission. We publish what those agencies report, with the observation time and station attached.

Every hour, shortly after the weather stations file their observations. The time of the most recent update is always shown at the bottom of the panel. If our feed ever stops, the page says so and tells you how old the readings are rather than presenting stale numbers as current.

No. Everything here is either a current observation from an official station, a fixed schedule set by treaty, or a calculation from those two things with the method shown. We do not predict what conditions will be later, and for a forecast you should use Environment Canada or the National Weather Service directly.