River
Pánuco River
510 km from source to mouth · Mexico.
MexicoFlows into Gulf of Mexico6th longest in Mexico
In numbers
Length
510km
Average flow
480m³/s
Basin
86,500km²
Drop
2,490m
from 2,490 m to 0 m
Country
1
The journey
From source to mouth
510 km of river and 19 stops on the way: 16 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmSourceat 2,490 m
- 24 kmTepeji del Río de Ocampo80,612 people
- 37 kmSan Marcos12,779 people
- 39 kmEl Llano14,559 people
- 39 kmTula de Allende28,577 people
- 65 kmMixquiahuala de Juárez25,510 people
- 66 kmProgreso de Obregón17,486 people
- 91 kmIxmiquilpan34,814 people
- 240 kmTamazunchale24,562 people
- 292 kmTanquián de Escobedo10,127 people
- 328 kmEl Higo8,459 people
- 367 kmMoctezuma Rivertributary
- 427 kmPánuco40,754 people
- 482 kmMoralillo10,191 people
- 484 kmTamesí Rivertributary
- 487 kmAnahuac14,116 people
- 488 kmCiudad Cuauhtémoc9,740 people
- 488 kmBenito Juárez14,990 people
- 490 kmTampico Bridge
- 491 kmCiudad Madero205,933 people
- 510 kmGulf of Mexicoat 0 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
River in Mexico
At the mouth it carries 481 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 5.2 seconds. It drops from 2,490 m to 0 m, 4.9 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 86,500 km², about the size of AZ. 5.6 million people live in it. Highest water: September; lowest: from January to April. Dams and reservoirs hold back a large share of its water (16% of a year's flow).
Where to start
- Ciudad MaderoLargest city on its banks · 205,933 people
- General Francisco Javier Mina International Airport (TAM)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 6 km from the cityCar hire in TampicoDiscover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- On the water6 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- From December to AprilThe best months to visit
Pánuco River, month by month
Highest water: September
Lowest water: from January to April. Best months to visit: from December to April.
From about 170 m³/s in the lowest month to 1,500 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
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The basin
Pánuco River: the basin in numbers
85,840 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 5.6millionpeople live in the basin
- 66/km²people per km²
- 1,141maverage altitude of the basin
- 907mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 20.5°Caverage air temperature
- 13%protected areas
- 0.9%covered by lakes
- 3.2km³held in reservoirs
What covers the basin
- 44% Forest
- 33% Cropland
- 23% Pasture
- 2% 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
Pánuco River: what you find on the way
- 1Weirs
- 3WaterfallsCascada de Mixquiahuala, Grutas de Xajha, Cascada Rancho Quemado
- 1Boat rampsPresa
- 2Ferry piers
- 3MarinasProtamsa, Termimar / Peñoles
From OpenStreetMap, within 2.4 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Pánuco 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.
3beaches at the mouth and on the banksCoastya
8mountains at the sourcePeakyas
Beaches (3)
At the mouth (25 km) and on the banks, by Coastya
- Playa Hermosa6.6 km away29.3°C
- Playa Paraíso3.7 km away29.3°C
- Playa Miramar2.1 km away29.3°C
Mountains at the source (8)
Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas
- Cerro la Catedral9.6 km away
- Cerro Pico Tres Padres12 km away
- Cerro Las Navajas11 km away
- Cerro Cañada Honda11 km away
- Cerro Los Potrerillos4.4 km away
- Cerro Los Loros7.3 km away
- Cerro La Piñuela4.8 km away
- Cerro Yadeni14 km away
From space
The source and the mouth, seen from orbit
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
Pánuco River in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
Tributaries (3)
Also: Moctezuma River, Tamesí River, Río Verde
United StatesWhere these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q1893265) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| Course, profile, basin | RiverATLAS v1.0 (HydroATLAS, Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 — followed from the source to the mouth given by Wikidata |
| Flow | WaterGAP (RiverATLAS), 1971–2000 · CC BY 4.0 |
| Climate along the river | WorldClim (RiverATLAS), 1970–2000 · CC BY 4.0 |
| Towns, bridges, dams | Wikidata · CC0; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0 |
| Along the river | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
| Our other atlases | Coastya, 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.
beaches
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lakes
Every lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Coming soonVisit mountains
Every summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit 
waterfalls
Every waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Coming soonVisit 
islands
Every island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Coming soonVisit 
rivers
Every river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.You are here
canyons
Every canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Coming soonVisit