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River

North Saskatchewan River

1,380 km from source to mouth · Canada.

CanadaCanadaFlows into Saskatchewan River6th longest in Canada

Follow the riverMonth by month

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

In numbers

Length

1,380km

Average flow

240m³/s

Basin

122,800km²

Drop

1,197m

from 1,576 m to 379 m

Country

1

The journey

From source to mouth

1,380 km of river and 57 stops on the way: 9 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.

1,576 m379 m
Columbia Icefieldat 1,576 m0 km
Abraham Lake52 km²91 km
Brazeau Rivertributary275 km
Great Divide waterfall64 m471 km
Edmonton1,010,899 people471 km
Alma Lake1.5 km²751 km
Cabin Lake0.7 km²769 km
North Battleford19,440 people959 km
Battle Rivertributary968 km
Prince Albert37,756 people1,206 km
Saskatchewan Riverat 379 m1,380 km
05001,0001,380 km
  1. 0 kmColumbia Icefieldat 1,576 m
  2. 8 kmColeman Lake0.3 km²
  3. 16 kmAlexandra Rivertributary
  4. 34 kmHowse Rivertributary
  5. 34 kmMistaya Rivertributary
  6. 60 kmSiffleur Rivertributary
  7. 91 kmAbraham Lake52 km²
  8. 99 kmBighorn Rivertributary
  9. 168 kmRam Rivertributary
  10. 205 kmClearwater Rivertributary
  11. 275 kmBrazeau Rivertributary
  12. 434 kmConjuring Creektributary
  13. 434 kmDevon Bridge
  14. 453 kmConstables Travis Jordan and Brett Ryan EPS Memorial Bridges
  15. 457 kmThe Hamptons9,405 people
  16. 459 kmTerwillegar Park Footbridge
  17. 461 kmFort Edmonton Footbridge
  18. 463 kmQuesnell Bridge
  19. 466 kmBuena Vista / Hawrelak Park Footbridge
  20. 467 kmWhitemud Creektributary
  21. 469 kmGroat Bridge
  22. 469 kmWîhkwêntôwin18,180 people
  23. 471 kmDudley B. Menzies Bridge
  24. 471 kmGreat Divide waterfall64 m
  25. 471 kmHigh Level Bridge
  26. 471 kmGarneau9,480 people
  27. 471 kmEdmonton1,010,899 people
  28. 471 kmWalterdale Bridge
  29. 472 kmStrathcona8,984 people
  30. 473 kmDowntown12,423 people
  31. 473 kmJames MacDonald Bridge
  32. 473 kmLow Level Bridge
  33. 474 kmTawatinâ Bridge
  34. 475 kmDawson Bridge
  35. 477 kmCapilano Bridge
  36. 478 kmCapilano Foot Bridge
  37. 480 kmAinsworth Dyer Footbridge
  38. 482 kmClover Bar Footbridge
  39. 483 kmBeverly Bridge
  40. 483 kmClover Bar Bridge
  41. 483 kmClover Bar Railway Bridge
  42. 488 kmNortheast Anthony Henday Bridge
  43. 494 kmAmisk Wâciw Âsokan
  44. 506 kmHighway 15 Bridge
  45. 506 kmFort Saskatchewan14,957 people
  46. 513 kmSturgeon Rivertributary
  47. 751 kmAlma Lake1.5 km²
  48. 763 kmVermilion Rivertributary
  49. 769 kmCabin Lake0.7 km²
  50. 959 kmNorth Battleford19,440 people
  51. 960 kmBattlefords Bridge
  52. 962 kmBattleford Bridge
  53. 968 kmBattle Rivertributary
  54. 1,055 kmBorden Bridge
  55. 1,096 kmPetrofka Bridge
  56. 1,205 kmDiefenbaker Bridge
  57. 1,205 kmCanadian Northern Railway Bridge
  58. 1,206 kmPrince Albert37,756 people
  59. 1,380 kmSaskatchewan Riverat 379 m

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

River in Alberta and Saskatchewan

At the mouth it carries 238 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 11 seconds. It drops from 1,576 m to 379 m, 0.9 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 122,800 km², about the size of ER. 1.5 million people live in it. Highest water: July; lowest: from December to March. Dams and reservoirs hold back a large share of its water (33% of a year's flow).

Read more on Wikipedia

Where to start

  • EdmontonLargest city on its banks · 1,010,899 people
  • Edmonton International Airport (YEG)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 25 km from the cityCar hire at YEG airport (Edmonton)Discover Cars · Affiliate link
  • On the water24 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
  • Kayak and canoe14 put-ins and rapids mapped (OpenStreetMap)
  • From June to AugustThe best months to visit

North Saskatchewan River, month by month

Highest water: July

Lowest water: from December to March. Freezing months (average below −4 °C): from November to March. Best months to visit: from June to August.

170
-16°23 mmJan
160
-12°16 mmFeb
160
-6°20 mmMar
320
3°23 mmApr
350
10°46 mmMay
380
14°77 mmJun
420
16°82 mmJul
340
15°62 mmAug
340
10°45 mmSep
290
4°20 mmOct
240
-6°18 mmNov
200
-13°22 mmDec
Water (estimated flow)Air (average) Rain (mm)Best months

From about 160 m³/s in the lowest month to 420 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 at YEG airport (Edmonton)Discover 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

North Saskatchewan River: the basin in numbers

121,599 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.

Heavily regulatedReservoirs can hold 33% of a year's flow: dams shape its seasons.
  • 1.5millionpeople live in the basin
  • 13/km²people per km²
  • 821maverage altitude of the basin
  • 455mmof rain a year (basin average)
  • 1.3°Caverage air temperature
  • 8%protected areas
  • 2.0%covered by lakes
  • 2%permafrost
  • 2.5km³held in reservoirs

What covers the basin

  • 26% Forest
  • 45% Cropland
  • 22% Pasture
  • 1% 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

North Saskatchewan River: what you find on the way

  • 35Dams
  • 1Weirs
  • 15WaterfallsCi Fuentes Path, Old Wonder Falls, Panther Falls and 12 more
  • 14Rapids
  • 15Boat rampsSaunders Boat Launch, Genesee Bridge Boat Launch, Emily Murphy Park Canoe Launch and 12 more
  • 6Ferry piersWingard Ferry West Terminal, Wingard Ferry East Terminal and 4 more
  • 1MarinasBoat Launch
  • 2Boat rentalsPaddle Boat Rental, Paddle boat rentals
  • 1River beachesAccidental Beach

From OpenStreetMap, within 2.5 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.

Cross-checked with our atlases

North Saskatchewan 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.

  • 1waterfall on the riverCascadyas
  • 4lakes on its wayLakeyas
  • 17mountains at the sourcePeakyas

Waterfalls (1)

On the river, by Cascadyas

  1. Great Divide waterfallkm 48464m

Cascadyas is coming soonOpen Cascadyas ↗

Lakes and reservoirs (4)

Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas

  1. Coleman Lakekm 80.3km²
  2. Abraham Lakekm 9452km²
  3. Alma Lakekm 7731.5km²
  4. Cabin Lakekm 7920.7km²

Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗

Mountains at the source (17)

Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas

  1. Mount Athabasca5.1 km away · prominence 671 m3,491m
  2. Mount Kitchener14 km away · prominence 280 m3,505m
  3. Mount Andromeda7.2 km away · prominence 330 m3,450m
  4. Snow Dome13 km away · prominence 171 m3,456m
  5. Mount Saskatchewan7.6 km away · prominence 1,102 m3,342m
  6. Cirrus Mountain11 km away · prominence 890 m3,270m
  7. Mount Stewart14 km away · prominence 1,117 m3,312m
  8. Nigel Peak8.8 km away · prominence 611 m3,211m

9 more on PeakyasOpen Peakyas ↗

From space

The source and the mouth, seen from orbit

North Saskatchewan River: satellite view of the source
The source14 km across
North Saskatchewan River: satellite view of the mouth
The mouth48 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

North Saskatchewan River in pictures

North Saskatchewan River 2020
Matthew Boonstra · CC BY-SA 4.0
North Saskatchewan River with Peak and Sky -a
Dave Bezaire & Susi Havens-Bezaire · CC BY-SA 2.0
North Battleford from South side of North Saskatchewan River
Tungilik · CC0
North Saskatchewan River Valley from Highlands Edmonton Alberta Canada 01A
WinterE229 WinterforceMedia · CC0

Tributaries

Where it flows, and what flows into it

It flows into

Saskatchewan RiverCanadaCanada547 km700 m³/s

Tributaries (20)

Also: Battle River, Brazeau River, Clearwater River, Sturgeon River, Mistaya River, Ram River, Whitemud Creek, Howse River, Bighorn River, Conjuring Creek, Siffleur River, Alexandra River, Redwater River, Vermilion River, Sturgeon River, Horsehills Creek, Jackfish River, Eagle Creek, Pipestone Creek, Baptiste River

In the same basin

Nelson RiverCanadaCanada644 km2,800 m³/sSouth Saskatchewan RiverCanadaCanada1,000 km250 m³/sRed River of the NorthCanadaCanada890 km260 m³/sAssiniboine RiverCanadaCanada1,275 km45 m³/sBow RiverCanadaCanada587 km130 m³/sRed Deer RiverCanadaCanada801 km70 m³/sOldman RiverCanadaCanada445 km95 m³/sWinnipeg RiverCanadaCanada298 km950 m³/sQu'Appelle RiverCanadaCanada743 km14 m³/sSouris RiverCanadaCanada1,240 km60 m³/s

Nearby

Rivers nearby

South Saskatchewan RiverCanadaCanada1,000 km250 m³/s0 km awayRed Deer RiverCanadaCanada801 km70 m³/s417 km awayQu'Appelle RiverCanadaCanada743 km14 m³/s404 km away

Where these numbers come from

Name, length, placesWikidata (Q2237) · 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 atlasesCascadyas, Lakeyas, 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