Overview

Lake Frances is an irrigation reservoir at 1,164m on the Rocky Mountain Front in northern Montana. Spot exposed to powerful Chinook winds descending from the Rockies. Good-sized body of water with generous fetch in a wind-swept plains landscape.

Suggest an edit

Spot forecast for Lake Frances

Sunrise 07:56 · Sunset 18:30

Open-Meteo

Premium weather models. Get the professional models (ECMWF, GFS, ICON, MeteoSwiss…) and a 16-day forecast. Without a subscription: Open-Meteo over 5 days.

Go Premium

< 7 kn7–12 kn13–20 kn21–30 kn31–40 kn41+ kn Gusts Your minimum: 7 kn

Forecasts provided by Open-Meteo

Lake Frances: when to go?

Rideable days and hours computed for a minimum wind of 7 knots · log in to set your own (foil, twin-tip…)

Season · peak

230h

in April · 24.5 rideable days

Wind is uneven from month to month: the best months are April, May and October, at 24 rideable days and 14 °C. The low point is September, at 15 days.

Rideable days per month

Wind strength when it is rideable

7-12 knots · 44%13-20 knots · 43%21-30 knots · 12%31+ knots · 1%

When the spot works, wind sits mostly between 7 and 12 knots — 44% of rideable hours. Big-kite territory. The coldest month is February, at -4 °C. The wettest month is August, with 29 mm.

Monthly averages: Lake Frances

Monthly averages — Lake Frances — averaged over 2 years of records — Weather data by Open-Meteo.com — How it is calculated
Month	Rideable days	Usable wind	Temperature	Rain
January	19.5	151 h	-1 °C	8 mm
February	16.0	135 h	-4 °C	22 mm
March	18.0	138 h	6 °C	12 mm
April	24.5	230 h	12 °C	19 mm
May	23.5	223 h	17 °C	27 mm
June	17.5	182 h	21 °C	27 mm
July	18.5	173 h	27 °C	24 mm
August	16.5	121 h	26 °C	29 mm
September	15.0	125 h	24 °C	13 mm
October	23.5	182 h	14 °C	13 mm
November	18.0	136 h	5 °C	17 mm
December	21.5	146 h	3 °C	9 mm

Photo gallery of Lake Frances

This spot is waiting for its first images

Ridden here? One photo or video, and the spot comes alive for everyone discovering it.

Technical details of Lake Frances spot

The spot works with winds from N, S, SW, W, WNW.

Rideable Not rideable

Spot opening date · Required level

Spot opening date: Open all year round
Required level: Intermediate

On the water

Good-sized freshwater reservoir. Good fetch. Cold water. Can develop significant chop in Chinook winds. Level varies with irrigation.

Hazards

Extremely powerful Chinook winds — violent and sudden gusts. Grizzly bears on the Rocky Mountain Front. Cold water — wetsuit recommended. Violent thunderstorms. Isolation — distant services.

Something out of date? Suggest an edit

Live

GW6460 Valier1.3 kmsource noaa

Readings reserved for Premium members

Readings from GW6460 Valier weather station are reserved for Premium members.

Real-time readings
Last 48 hours history
Custom alerts
Extended weather forecasts

Discover Premium

Already a Premium member? Log in

Additional stations

VALIER MONTANA WEATHER STATION MT US8 km

Readings reserved for Premium members
source madis - NOAA

All the details of your session on windtracker.app

Webcams near Lake Frances

Webcams provided by Windy.com

Nearby spots

All spots: Montana

Comments 0

No comments yet.

Log in to comment

Lake Frances kitesurf and wingfoil spot