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River

Attawapiskat River

748 km from source to mouth · Canada.

CanadaCanadaFlows into James Bay

Follow the riverMonth by month

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

In numbers

Length

748km

Average flow

630m³/s

Basin

50,200km²

Drop

326m

from 325 m to -1 m

Country

1

The journey

From source to mouth

748 km of river and 15 stops on the way: 0 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.

325 m-1 m
Attawapiskat Lakeat 325 m0 km
Tyo Lake1.3 km²54 km
Kabania Lake69 km²156 km
Hague Lake1.5 km²184 km
Ludlow Lake1.2 km²306 km
Streatfeild Rivertributary378 km
Muketei Rivertributary460 km
Missisa Rivertributary491 km
James Bayat -1 m748 km
0200400600748 km
  1. 0 kmAttawapiskat Lakeat 325 m
  2. 1 kmBadesdawa Lake25 km²
  3. 30 kmKakagiwizida Lake8.9 km²
  4. 31 kmLauber Lake1.1 km²
  5. 54 kmTyo Lake1.3 km²
  6. 60 kmSaburn Lake1.3 km²
  7. 103 kmOzhiski Lake68 km²
  8. 156 kmKabania Lake69 km²
  9. 184 kmHague Lake1.5 km²
  10. 199 kmAttawapiskat Lake200 km²
  11. 208 kmEarls Lake1.5 km²
  12. 243 kmBeteau Lake12 km²
  13. 306 kmLudlow Lake1.2 km²
  14. 378 kmStreatfeild Rivertributary
  15. 460 kmMuketei Rivertributary
  16. 491 kmMissisa Rivertributary
  17. 748 kmJames Bayat -1 m

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

River in Kenora District, Ontario, Canada

At the mouth it carries 626 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 4.0 seconds. It drops from 325 m to -1 m, 0.4 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 50,200 km², about the size of CR. Highest water, with the snowmelt: from May to July; lowest: from January to April. No large dam holds it back: it is one of the world's free-flowing rivers.

Read more on Wikipedia

Where to start

Attawapiskat River, month by month

Highest water: from May to July

Lowest water: from January to April. Freezing months (average below −4 °C): from November to March. Melting snow makes up much of its water. Best months to visit: from July to August.

400
-22°31 mmJan
400
-19°24 mmFeb
400
-13°28 mmMar
400
-3°37 mmApr
600
5°50 mmMay
600
12°79 mmJun
610
16°92 mmJul
500
14°82 mmAug
510
9°78 mmSep
500
3°60 mmOct
460
-7°49 mmNov
420
-17°34 mmDec
Water (estimated flow)Air (average) Rain (mm)Best months

From about 400 m³/s in the lowest month to 610 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

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

Attawapiskat River: the basin in numbers

49,939 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.

Free-flowingDams upstream can hold only 0.0% of a year's flow: the river still keeps its natural rhythm.
  • 452people live in the basin
  • 231maverage altitude of the basin
  • 667mmof rain a year (basin average)
  • -1.7°Caverage air temperature
  • 2%protected areas
  • 6.0%covered by lakes
  • 12%permafrost

What covers the basin

  • 78% Forest

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

Attawapiskat River: what you find on the way

  • 113RapidsOzhuskans Rapids and 112 more

From OpenStreetMap, within 2.2 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.

Cross-checked with our atlases

Attawapiskat 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.

  • 12lakes on its wayLakeyas

Lakes and reservoirs (12)

Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas

  1. Badesdawa Lakekm 125km²
  2. Kakagiwizida Lakekm 308.9km²
  3. Ozhiski Lakekm 10468km²
  4. Kabania Lakekm 15669km²
  5. Hague Lakekm 1851.5km²
  6. Attawapiskat Lakekm 200200km²
  7. Earls Lakekm 2081.5km²
  8. Beteau Lakekm 24412km²

4 more on LakeyasLakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗

From space

The source and the mouth, seen from orbit

Attawapiskat River: satellite view of the source
The source14 km across
Attawapiskat River: satellite view of the mouth
The mouth30 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.

Tributaries

Where it flows, and what flows into it

Tributaries (3)

Also: Missisa River, Muketei River, Streatfeild River

Where these numbers come from

Name, length, placesWikidata (Q757914) · 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 — 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