United StatesAlexander ArchipelagoIsland
Prince of Wales Island
6,675 km² rising to 1,058 m out of the Cordova Bay.
Satellite: Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 by EOX (CC BY 4.0). Outline and points © OpenStreetMap contributors / Natural Earth. North up.
In numbers
6,675km²
Area
1,085km
Coastline
measured on a simplified outline
1,058m
Highest point
6,300
People
13°C
Warmest sea
August
1km
To the mainland
When to go to Prince of Wales Island
Good all year round.
The sea is warmest in August (13 °C) and coolest in March (6 °C). The water never reaches 21 °C: bring a wetsuit.
Averages 1991–2020. Sea: NOAA OISST, the water within 35 km of the coast. Air, rain and sun: NASA POWER. Best months weigh warm afternoons (23–30 °C), sea of 24 °C or more and few wet days.
Island in Alaska, United States of America
Prince of Wales Island is an island in United States. It belongs to Alexander Archipelago. It covers 6,675 km², with 1,085 km of coastline. Its highest point rises to 1,058 m. About 6,300 people live on it. The nearest mainland is 1 km away.
Getting there
- Klawock Airport (KLW)airport on the island, with scheduled flightsCar hire in KetchikanDiscover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- Ferries2 ferry terminals on the island
- 1 km from the mainlanddistance to the nearest continental coast
Plan the trip
Ferries, stays and things to do
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.
On the island
What you find on Prince of Wales Island.
- 1viewpointsDog Salmon Fish Pass Wildlife Viewing Site
- 2ferry terminalsHollis, Alaska Marine Highway Terminal - Coffman Cove
- 33named peaksCopper Mountain, Eudora Moutnain, Mount Jumbo and 30 more
- 333waterfalls
- 1waymarked walking routesStaney Creek Cabin Trail
- 3hotels, guesthouses and apartments
Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit, inside the island's outline. A low number may only mean nobody has mapped it yet.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Prince of Wales Island in our other atlases
Everything Coastya, Peakyas, Lakeyas and Cascadyas know about what lies inside Prince of Wales Island, each with its own numbers.
19lakesLakeyas
Largest lake
11.4km²
Klawock Lake
according to Lakeyas
Warmest lake
22.3°C
Kegan Lake
surface water, warmest month · according to Lakeyas
19 lakes
on Lakeyas, the lake atlas
- Klawock Lake11.4km²
- Salmon Lake5.5km²
- Neck Lake4.0km²
- Nutkwa Lagoon4.0km²
- Kegan Lake2.5km²
- Luck Lake2.1km²
- Klakas Lake1.8km²
- Niblack Lake1.6km²
11 more on LakeyasLakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗
The shape of the land.
On average the island stands 223 m above the sea. 56 % of it is below 200 m.
- 20 %0–50 m
- 36 %50–200 m
- 33 %200–500 m
- 11 %500–1,000 m
Share of the island's area in each altitude band, from the Copernicus DEM (30 m, read at 30–240 m on large islands).
Size, for real
Next to islands you may know.
100 km
All outlines drawn to the same scale (Natural Earth and OpenStreetMap).
Month by month
The weather on the island.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Afternoon high (°C) | 3 | 3 | 4 | 8 | 12 | 14 | 16 | 16 | 14 | 9 | 5 | 3 |
| Night low (°C) | 0 | -1 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 8 | 10 | 11 | 9 | 5 | 2 | 0 |
| Sea (°C) | 7 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 12 | 10 | 9 | 8 |
| Rain (mm) | 253 | 165 | 178 | 153 | 119 | 118 | 150 | 190 | 252 | 287 | 269 | 260 |
| Wet days | 23 | 19 | 22 | 20 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 20 | 22 | 24 | 24 | 24 |
| Sun h/day | 0.5 | 2.4 | 3.5 | 5.1 | 5.9 | 5.3 | 4.5 | 4.6 | 3.4 | 2.0 | 0.8 | 0.3 |
| Wind (km/h) | 15 | 13 | 13 | 12 | 10 | 10 | 9 | 9 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 |
Averages 1991–2020 for the ~55 km NASA POWER cell over the island; the sea from NOAA OISST.
Recent years
Warmer and cooler years at sea.
Each month's sea temperature compared with its 1991–2020 average, in degrees.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | +0.1 | ±0.0 | +0.1 | ±0.0 | +0.6 | +0.3 | +0.5 | +0.3 | +1.3 | +0.4 | +0.1 | +0.1 |
| 2021 | +0.7 | −0.3 | +0.1 | −0.3 | −0.2 | −0.4 | +0.8 | +0.5 | +0.2 | ±0.0 | +0.1 | −0.4 |
| 2022 | −0.8 | −0.3 | +0.1 | +0.1 | +0.2 | +0.7 | +1.0 | +1.4 | +1.5 | +1.5 | ±0.0 | −1.0 |
| 2023 | −0.4 | ±0.0 | −0.5 | −0.6 | +0.6 | +0.4 | +1.0 | +0.8 | +0.4 | +0.7 | +0.5 | +0.9 |
| 2024 | +0.8 | +0.8 | +0.8 | +1.1 | +0.8 | +0.1 | +0.6 | +0.7 | +0.2 | ±0.0 | +0.2 | +0.2 |
| 2025 | +0.7 | +0.1 | +0.6 | +0.8 | +0.3 | +0.3 | +0.6 | +1.0 | +1.1 | +0.7 | +0.7 | +0.1 |
+1 warmer than usual −1 cooler than usual
Photos
Seen by visitors.
Nearby
More islands nearby.
Wrangell IslandUnited States542 km²961 m87 km away
Revillagigedo IslandUnited States2,913 km²1,321 m101 km away
Kupreanof IslandUnited States2,813 km²1,117 m134 km away
Baranof IslandUnited States4,065 km²1,643 m193 km away
Graham Island
Canada6,361 km²1,164 m246 km away
Admiralty IslandUnited States4,362 km²1,477 m242 km away
Moresby IslandCanada2,600 km²974 m288 km away
Chichagof IslandUnited States5,388 km²1,192 m304 km awayAbout these numbers
| Names, area, population | Wikidata (Q601637) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| Outline | Natural Earth · public domain |
| Sea temperature | NOAA OISST v2.1 · 1991–2020 |
| Climate | NASA POWER · 1991–2020 |
| Relief, 3D model | Copernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA |
| Beaches, ports, lighthouses, trails | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Towns | GeoNames · CC BY 4.0 |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
| Beaches, mountains, lakes and waterfalls | Lakeyas — Wikidata · CC0; © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0; HydroLAKES (Messager et al. 2016) · CC BY 4.0, LakeTEMP (Korver et al. 2024) · CC BY 4.0 |
Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.
The family
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