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River

Alabama River

640 km from source to mouth · United States.

United StatesUnited StatesFlows into Mobile River

Follow the riverMonth by month

SourceMouth
The river and every tributary in its basin, drawn from RiverATLAS (CC BY 4.0).

In numbers

Length

640km

Average flow

950m³/s

Basin

106,000km²

Drop

62m

from 68 m to 6 m

Country

1

The journey

From source to mouth

640 km of river and 10 stops on the way: 2 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.

68 m6 m
Coosa Riverat 68 m0 km
Montgomery200,603 people64 km
Selma19,519 people224 km
Cahaba Rivertributary262 km
Millers Ferry Lock and Dam369 km
Mobile Riverat 6 m640 km
0200400640 km
  1. 0 kmCoosa Riverat 68 m
  2. 14 kmSpeigner Lake1.2 km²
  3. 30 kmTallapoosa Rivertributary
  4. 30 kmCoosa Rivertributary
  5. 64 kmMontgomery200,603 people
  6. 75 kmCobbs Lake0.4 km²
  7. 95 kmJacobs Swamp1.1 km²
  8. 224 kmEdmund Pettus Bridge
  9. 224 kmSelma19,519 people
  10. 262 kmCahaba Rivertributary
  11. 369 kmMillers Ferry Lock and Dam
  12. 640 kmMobile Riverat 6 m

Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.

River in Alabama, United States

At the mouth it carries 950 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 2.6 seconds. It drops from 68 m to 6 m, 0.1 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 106,000 km², about the size of GT. 2.9 million people live in it. Highest water: from February to April. Dams and reservoirs hold back a large share of its water (20% of a year's flow).

Read more on Wikipedia

Where to start

  • MontgomeryLargest city on its banks · 200,603 people
  • Montgomery Regional (Dannelly Field) Airport (MGM)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 12 km from the cityCar hire in MontgomeryDiscover Cars · Affiliate link
  • On the water23 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
  • May and from September to OctoberThe best months to visit

Alabama River, month by month

Highest water: from February to April

Best months to visit: May and from September to October.

1,800
8°126 mmJan
2,100
10°135 mmFeb
2,300
14°163 mmMar
1,900
18°120 mmApr
1,400
22°110 mmMay
740
26°105 mmJun
730
27°136 mmJul
600
27°103 mmAug
580
24°97 mmSep
300
18°68 mmOct
560
13°97 mmNov
1,300
9°137 mmDec
Water (estimated flow)Air (average) Rain (mm)Best months

From about 300 m³/s in the lowest month to 2,300 m³/s in the highest. An estimate: the monthly flow is modelled from the lowest and highest months of WaterGAP (RiverATLAS, 1971–2000) and the rain and snow along the river (WorldClim). Dams change the real rhythm. The chip is the average air temperature; below it, the month's rain.

Plan the trip

Plan the trip: boat trips, a bed by the river, a car

Car hire in MontgomeryDiscover CarsSee 

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.

The basin

Alabama River: the basin in numbers

59,104 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.

Heavily regulatedReservoirs can hold 20% of a year's flow: dams shape its seasons.
  • 2.9millionpeople live in the basin
  • 49/km²people per km²
  • 202maverage altitude of the basin
  • 1,426mmof rain a year (basin average)
  • 16.4°Caverage air temperature
  • 2%protected areas
  • 1.0%covered by lakes
  • 6.5km³held in reservoirs

What covers the basin

  • 82% Forest
  • 11% Cropland
  • 6% Pasture
  • 4% Towns and cities

RiverATLAS (HydroATLAS v1.0, CC BY 4.0): land cover, people, protected areas, glaciers and dams over the whole basin upstream of the mouth.

Along the river

Alabama River: what you find on the way

  • 20DamsSpeigner Dam, B D Greer Dam, Paravigini Dam and 17 more
  • 3LocksAlabama River
  • 18Boat rampsPrairie Creek Boat Ramp & Dock, Holly Creek Landing and 16 more
  • 2Ferry piersCamden Ferry Landing, Boykin Ferry Landing
  • 3MarinasBenton Boat Ramp & Marina
  • 1River beachesBridgeport Beach

From OpenStreetMap, within 2.3 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.

Cross-checked with our atlases

Alabama River in our other atlases

What our sister atlases know about the waterfalls on this river, the lakes it flows through, the beaches at its mouth, the mountains where it rises and the islands off its mouth.

  • 3lakes on its wayLakeyas
  • 3mountains at the sourcePeakyas

Lakes and reservoirs (3)

Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas

  1. Speigner Lakekm 111.2km²
  2. Cobbs Lakekm 600.4km²
  3. Jacobs Swampkm 761.1km²

Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗

Mountains at the source (3)

Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas

  1. Taskigi Mound2.7 km away
  2. Bald Knob9.9 km away
  3. Cobbs Hill12 km away

Open Peakyas ↗

From space

The source and the mouth, seen from orbit

Alabama River: satellite view of the source
The source14 km across
Alabama River: satellite view of the mouth
The mouth33 km across

Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 by EOX IT Services GmbH (contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2016), CC BY 4.0. The glowing line is the river as drawn by RiverATLAS.

Photos

Alabama River in pictures

Alabama River at Benton Park
Rivers Langley; SaveRivers · CC BY-SA 3.0
Alabama River RM192 Selma
Civilengtiger ( talk ) · Public domain
Cesam249
Adrien Lamarre, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers · Public domain
Alabama River Swamp (23995473987)
Bill Sutton · CC BY 2.0

Tributaries

Where it flows, and what flows into it

It flows into

Mobile RiverUnited StatesUnited States72 km1,900 m³/s

Tributaries (4)

Also: Coosa River, Tallapoosa River, Cahaba River, Mulberry Creek

Nearby

Rivers nearby

Mississippi RiverUnited StatesUnited States3,766 km12,700 m³/s259 km awayChattahoocheeUnited StatesUnited States702 km290 m³/s298 km awayFlint RiverUnited StatesUnited States240 km640 m³/s298 km awayApalachicola RiverUnited StatesUnited States180 km470 m³/s323 km awayRed RiverUnited StatesUnited States2,189 km1,900 m³/s358 km awayArkansas RiverUnited StatesUnited States2,364 km240 m³/s417 km awayAtchafalaya RiverUnited StatesUnited States270 km240 m³/s356 km awayWhite RiverUnited StatesUnited States1,162 km740 m³/s430 km away

Where these numbers come from

Name, length, placesWikidata (Q558643) · CC0
Course, profile, basinRiverATLAS v1.0 (HydroATLAS, Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 — followed from the source to the mouth given by Wikidata
FlowWaterGAP (RiverATLAS), 1971–2000 · CC BY 4.0
Climate along the riverWorldClim (RiverATLAS), 1970–2000 · CC BY 4.0
Towns, bridges, damsWikidata · CC0; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0
Along the river© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL
ImagesEOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons
Our other atlasesLakeyas, Peakyas — Wikidata · CC0; © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0; HydroLAKES · CC BY 4.0; NOAA OISST

Every source and licence is on the data sources page.

The family

Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers or canyons?

Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, month by month, in seven languages.

beachesCoastyaFind your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit
lakesLakeyasEvery lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Coming soonVisit
mountainsPeakyasEvery summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit
waterfallsCascadyasEvery waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Coming soonVisit
islandsIslandyasEvery island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Coming soonVisit
riversRiveryasEvery river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.You are here
canyonsCanyonyasEvery canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Coming soonVisit