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River

River Ouse

90 km from source to mouth · United Kingdom.

United KingdomUnited KingdomFlows into Humber

Follow the riverMonth by month

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

In numbers

Length

90km

Average flow

50m³/s

Basin

3,315km²

Drop

12m

from 12 m to 0 m

Country

1

The journey

From source to mouth

90 km of river and 29 stops on the way: 13 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.

50 m0 m
Sourceat 12 m0 km
River Uretributary16 km
River Niddtributary20 km
Scarborough railway bridge32 km
York208,400 people34 km
River Wharfetributary46 km
Riccall2,216 people52 km
River Derwenttributary64 km
River Airetributary70 km
Humberat 0 m90 km
02040608090 km
  1. 0 kmSourceat 12 m
  2. 16 kmRiver Uretributary
  3. 17 kmLinton upon Ouse1,008 people
  4. 20 kmRiver Niddtributary
  5. 26 kmUpper Poppleton3,451 people
  6. 26 kmNether Poppleton3,504 people
  7. 27 kmSkelton1,549 people
  8. 32 kmScarborough railway bridge
  9. 32 kmLendal Bridge
  10. 33 kmOuse Bridge and attached flights of steps
  11. 33 kmSkeldergate Bridge
  12. 34 kmYork208,400 people
  13. 34 kmMillennium Bridge
  14. 37 kmBishopthorpe3,237 people
  15. 38 kmNaburn Railway Bridge
  16. 46 kmRiver Wharfetributary
  17. 47 kmCawood Bridge
  18. 47 kmCawood1,409 people
  19. 52 kmRiccall2,216 people
  20. 55 kmBarlby3,860 people
  21. 56 kmSelby toll bridge
  22. 56 kmSelby24,859 people
  23. 62 kmHemingbrough2,483 people
  24. 64 kmRiver Derwenttributary
  25. 70 kmRiver Airetributary
  26. 71 kmBoothferry Bridge
  27. 71 kmOuse Bridge
  28. 73 kmHowden4,142 people
  29. 76 kmGoole railway swing bridge
  30. 78 kmGoole20,810 people
  31. 90 kmHumberat 0 m

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

River in North Yorkshire, England

At the mouth it carries 50 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 50 seconds. Its basin covers 3,315 km², about the size of CV. 2.9 million people live in it. Highest water: from December to January. No large dam holds it back: it is one of the world's free-flowing rivers.

Read more on Wikipedia

Where to start

River Ouse, month by month

Highest water: from December to January

Best months to visit: from June to September.

270
4°53 mmJan
220
4°39 mmFeb
170
6°46 mmMar
130
8°45 mmApr
110
11°50 mmMay
92
14°50 mmJun
78
16°50 mmJul
100
16°61 mmAug
130
14°56 mmSep
160
10°51 mmOct
200
6°57 mmNov
250
4°55 mmDec
Water (estimated flow)Air (average) Rain (mm)Best months

From about 78 m³/s in the lowest month to 270 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 LBA airport (Leeds, West Yorkshire)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

River Ouse: the basin in numbers

9,309 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.

Free-flowingDams upstream can hold only 0.7% of a year's flow: the river still keeps its natural rhythm.
  • 2.9millionpeople live in the basin
  • 313/km²people per km²
  • 154maverage altitude of the basin
  • 828mmof rain a year (basin average)
  • 8.7°Caverage air temperature
  • 34%protected areas
  • 0.2%covered by lakes
  • 0.0km³held in reservoirs

What covers the basin

  • 1% Forest
  • 40% Cropland
  • 30% Pasture
  • 14% 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

River Ouse: what you find on the way

  • 13Weirs
  • 26LocksLinton Cut, River Foss, Selby Canal and 23 more
  • 20Boat rampsMarygate Landing, Blue Bridge Slipway and 18 more
  • 3MarinasNaburn Marina, Viking Marina, Goole Marina
  • 1River beachesYork Beach

From OpenStreetMap, within 1.8 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.

Cross-checked with our atlases

River Ouse 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.

  • 2mountains at the sourcePeakyas
  • 2islands off the mouthIslandyas

Mountains at the source (2)

Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas

  1. Sutton Bank12 km away298m
  2. Hood Hill11 km away

Open Peakyas ↗

Islands off the mouth (2)

Within 30 km of the mouth, by Islandyas

  1. Whitton Island3.6 km away
  2. Read's Island12 km away

Islandyas is coming soonOpen Islandyas ↗

From space

The source and the mouth, seen from orbit

River Ouse: satellite view of the source
The source14 km across
River Ouse: satellite view of the mouth
The mouth13 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

River Ouse in pictures

River Ouse in York
Chris j wood at en.wikipedia · CC BY-SA 3.0
York MMB 39 River Ouse
mattbuck ( category ) · CC BY-SA 3.0
River Ouse (27883541743)
Tim Green from Bradford · CC BY 2.0
Reedness from across the Ouse - panoramio (1)
irlsey · CC BY-SA 3.0

Tributaries

Where it flows, and what flows into it

Tributaries (7)

River AireUnited KingdomUnited Kingdom114 km36 m³/sjoins at km 74

Also: River Ure, River Wharfe, River Derwent, River Nidd, River Foss, River Kyle

Nearby

Rivers nearby

River TrentUnited KingdomUnited Kingdom298 km95 m³/s4 km awayRiver AireUnited KingdomUnited Kingdom114 km36 m³/s12 km awayRiver TeesUnited KingdomUnited Kingdom137 km34 m³/s104 km awayRiver DerwentUnited KingdomUnited Kingdom80 km29 m³/s101 km awayRiver Great OuseUnited KingdomUnited Kingdom240 km66 m³/s126 km awayRiver NeneUnited KingdomUnited Kingdom146 km20 m³/s116 km awayRiver TyneUnited KingdomUnited Kingdom100 km63 m³/s152 km awayRiver WearUnited KingdomUnited Kingdom96 km21 m³/s142 km away

Where these numbers come from

Name, length, placesWikidata (Q19718) · CC0
Course, profile, basinRiverATLAS v1.0 (HydroATLAS, Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 — followed along the river network from the point 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 atlasesPeakyas, Islandyas — 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