About Lake Winnipeg

Lake Winnipeg is the 10th largest lake in the world by surface area.

The surface area of Lake Winnipeg is about 23,750 sq km and covers about 3.7% of the surface area of the Province of Manitoba.

Lake Winnipeg is about 436 kilometres in length, about the same distance as a drive to Brandon from Winnipeg ... and back!

At its widest point, Lake Winnipeg is about 111 kilometres across.

On average, the lake is about 12 metres deep but at a point off the north east shore of Black Island, Lake Winnipeg reaches its maximum depth of about 36 metres.

With its many bays, harbours, and points, the shoreline of Lake Winnipeg is about 1,750 kilometres long.

The volume of Lake Winnipeg is 284 cubic kilometres (1 kilometre wide by 1 kilometre high by 1 kilometre long), equivalent to more than 6 billion times the volume of a standard 14 by 28 foot backyard pool.

Lake Winnipeg consists of a large, deeper north basin and a smaller, comparatively shallow south basin. Lake Winnipeg is shallow relative to other large lakes, with an average depth of 9 metres in the south basin and 13.3 metres in the north basin. The two basins are separated by the Narrows through which waters from the south basin ultimately flow northward.

Because of its shallow depth, the water column of Lake Winnipeg is typically not stratified with bottom waters within 1 to 2 degrees Celcius of surface water temperatures.