Nicola Lake
50.1736° N, 120.5181° W
Shoreline and neighbouring water from open government data.
Download the map (SVG)Nicola Lake, British Columbia. 50.1736° N, 120.5181° W
Not for navigation. Depths are from government surveys and may be outdated.
borealbound.ca/lakes/bc/nicola-lake/, compiled October 9, 2026
- Canadian Geographical Names Database, Natural Resources Canada. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Canada.
- HydroLAKES v1.0, Messager et al. 2016 / WWF HydroSHEDS. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Census boundaries and population, 2021, Statistics Canada. Adapted from Statistics Canada. This does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada.
- Known BC Fish Observations and BC Fish Distributions, Government of British Columbia. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – British Columbia.
- Bathymetric Maps – Open, Government of British Columbia. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – British Columbia.
- Wildlife Management Units, Government of British Columbia. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – British Columbia.
- Real-time hydrometric data, Environment and Climate Change Canada. Contains data from Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC Data Servers End-use Licence).
- National Water Data Archive (HYDAT) daily means, Environment and Climate Change Canada. Contains data from Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC Data Servers End-use Licence).
- City page weather forecasts and alerts, Environment and Climate Change Canada. Contains data from Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC Data Servers End-use Licence).
- Air Quality Health Index observations and forecasts, Environment and Climate Change Canada. Contains data from Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC Data Servers End-use Licence).
- Photographs, Wikimedia Commons contributors. Each photo carries its own licence (CC0, public domain, CC BY or CC BY-SA), credited where shown.
Nicola Lake covers 25 km², making it larger than 98% of the 4,577 lakes in British Columbia. It lies beside Nicola.
Government surveys have recorded 8 fish species here, including rainbow trout and mountain whitefish.
- Area
- 25 km²
- larger than 98% of the 4,577 lakes in British Columbia
- Shoreline
- 48.2 km
- longer than 97% of the 4,577 lakes in British Columbia
- Fish species
- 8
- more than 88% of the 2,793 surveyed lakes in British Columbia
- Elevation
- 624 m
Today on the water
17.9 °C
Observed at Merritt, as of 12:00 a.m. PDT
rough Estimated waves, next 12 hours: up to 0.6 m. Around 4 a.m., wind from the southwest: the southwest shore is sheltered, waves build toward the northeast shore.
| Time | 1 a.m. | 4 a.m. | 7 a.m. | 10 a.m. | 1 p.m. | 4 p.m. | 7 p.m. | 10 p.m. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wind km/h | SW 20 | SW 30 | SW 30 | SW 30 | SW 30 | SW 30 | NW 20 | var. 5 |
| Gusts km/h | 50 | 50 | 50 | 50 | 50 | 40 | ||
| Waves (est.) m | 0.4 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 0.6 | |||
| Temp. °C | 15 | 15 | 14 | 12 | 11 | 10 | 8 | 6 |
| Precip. % | 0 | 0 | 0 | 80 | 80 | 80 | 80 | 80 |
Tonight: Mainly cloudy. Wind southwest 30 km/h gusting to 50. Low 13.
Weather: Merritt (local forecast), as of 12:01 a.m. PDT
Water level
Nicola Lake near Quilchena: 1.93 m at 12:00 a.m. PDT: 42 cm below the median for this time of year, below the normal range.
Normal range (25th–75th percentile, HYDAT) Last 7 days
Provisional real-time data, subject to revision. hydrometric station 08LG046
Sun and moon
- Civil dawn
- 6:42 a.m.
- Sunrise
- 7:15 a.m.
- Sunset
- 6:22 p.m.
- Civil dusk
- 6:55 p.m.
- Moonrise
- 6:13 a.m.
- Moonset
- 5:42 p.m.
- Moon
- Waning crescent, 1% lit
Air Quality Health Index
2 low risk
Kamloops, as of 12:00 a.m. PDT
Follow this lake by email: a weekly summary of conditions.
Depth
- Official government depth map (PDF)1959 survey
Not for navigation. Depths are from government surveys and may be outdated.
Fish
Sport fish by the share of the 41 government surveys (2014–2018) that recorded them.
Forage fish and other species (6)
Forage fish
- Redside Shiner 4
- Peamouth Chub 2
- Prickly Sculpin 1
Other
- Largescale Sucker 16
- Northern Pikeminnow 8
- Longnose Sucker 3
Numbers are the surveys that recorded each species.
Fishing regulations: Region 3 – Thompson. Check seasons and limits before you fish.
Photos
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Follow this lake
Every Friday by email: the Environment Canada forecast, the water level at the nearest gauge and any weather alerts in effect.