River
Peace River
1,923 km from source to mouth · Canada.
CanadaFlows into Slave River3rd longest in Canada
In numbers
Length
1,923km
Average flow
2,100m³/s
Basin
302,500km²
Drop
594m
from 801 m to 207 m
Country
1
The journey
From source to mouth
1,923 km of river and 21 stops on the way: 0 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmWilliston Lakeat 801 m
- 21 kmArctic Lake1.1 km²
- 228 kmChristine Lake0.3 km²
- 413 kmWilliston Lake1,719 km²
- 427 kmMoosecall Lake0.8 km²
- 436 kmDinosaur Lake8.6 km²
- 484 kmHalfway Rivertributary
- 527 kmMoberly Rivertributary
- 546 kmPine Rivertributary
- 549 kmTaylor Bridge
- 549 kmpipeline bridge over the Peace River in Taylor
- 570 kmBeatton Rivertributary
- 605 kmPouce Coupé Rivertributary
- 741 kmDunvegan Bridge
- 846 kmSmoky Rivertributary
- 853 kmHeart Rivertributary
- 858 kmPats Creektributary
- 1,316 kmBoyer Rivertributary
- 1,364 kmWabasca Rivertributary
- 1,395 kmVermilion Chutes
- 1,395 kmVermilion Falls
- 1,556 kmBig Slough5.4 km²
- 1,923 kmSlave Riverat 207 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
River in Alberta and British Columbia, Canada
At the mouth it carries 2,110 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 1.2 seconds. It drops from 801 m to 207 m, 0.3 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 302,500 km², about the size of IT. 229,000 people live in it. Highest water, with the snowmelt: from May to July; lowest: from December to March. It is heavily dammed: reservoirs can hold 106% of a year's flow.
Where to start
- Fort SmithLargest city on its banks · 2,542 people
- Fort Smith Airport (YSM)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 4 km from the cityCar hire in Hay RiverDiscover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- On the water17 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- Kayak and canoe29 put-ins and rapids mapped (OpenStreetMap)
- From June to AugustThe best months to visit
Peace River, month by month
Highest water: from May to July
Lowest water: from December to March. Freezing months (average below −4 °C): from November to March. Melting snow makes up much of its water. Best months to visit: from June to August.
From about 820 m³/s in the lowest month to 5,200 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
Peace River: the basin in numbers
298,825 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 229,000people live in the basin
- 1/km²people per km²
- 882maverage altitude of the basin
- 502mmof rain a year (basin average)
- -0.3°Caverage air temperature
- 9%protected areas
- 1.8%covered by lakes
- 7%permafrost
- 75km³held in reservoirs
What covers the basin
- 66% Forest
- 7% Cropland
- 3% Pasture
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
Peace River: what you find on the way
- 2WaterfallsVermilion Rapids, Vermilion Falls
- 29Rapids
- 11Boat rampsDinosaur Reservoir Boat Launch, Lynx Creek Boat Launch, Halfway River Boat Launch and 8 more
- 6Ferry piers
From OpenStreetMap, within 2.7 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Peace 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.
2waterfalls on the riverCascadyas
6lakes on its wayLakeyas
Waterfalls (2)
On the river, by Cascadyas
- Vermilion Chuteskm 1,257
- Vermilion Fallskm 1,257
Cascadyas is coming soonOpen Cascadyas ↗
Lakes and reservoirs (6)
Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas
- Arctic Lakekm 191.1km²
- Christine Lakekm 2050.3km²
- Williston Lakekm 372 · 166 m deep1,719km²
- Moosecall Lakekm 3850.8km²
- Dinosaur Lakekm 3938.6km²
- Big Sloughkm 1,4025.4km²
Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗
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
Peace River in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
It flows into
Slave RiverCanada434 km3,500 m³/sTributaries (17)
Also: Pouce Coupé River, Wabasca River, Kiskatinaw River, Heart River, Pine River, Halfway River, Beatton River, Boyer River, Cadotte River, Pats Creek, Notikewin River, Moberly River, Keg River, Mikkwa River, Clear River, Wentzel River
Where these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q2220) · 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 | Cascadyas, Lakeyas — 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
Find your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit 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