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River

Snowy River

352 km from source to mouth · Australia.

AustraliaAustraliaFlows into Bass Strait

Follow the riverMonth by month

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

In numbers

Length

352km

Average flow

67m³/s

Basin

15,779km²

Drop

1,131m

from 1,128 m to -3 m

Country

1

The journey

From source to mouth

352 km of river and 12 stops on the way: 1 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.

1,128 m-3 m
Sourceat 1,128 m0 km
Lake Jindabyne24 km²51 km
Maclaughlin Rivertributary121 km
Suggan Buggan Rivertributary232 km
Deddick Rivertributary239 km
Buchan Rivertributary300 km
Bass Straitat -3 m352 km
0100200300352 km
  1. 0 kmSourceat 1,128 m
  2. 36 kmThredbo Rivertributary
  3. 43 kmEucumbene Rivertributary
  4. 49 kmJindabyne6,547 people
  5. 51 kmLake Jindabyne24 km²
  6. 53 kmMowamba Rivertributary
  7. 121 kmMaclaughlin Rivertributary
  8. 232 kmSuggan Buggan Rivertributary
  9. 239 kmDeddick Rivertributary
  10. 300 kmBuchan Rivertributary
  11. 345 kmLake Curlip1.4 km²
  12. 347 kmLake Wat Wat0.8 km²
  13. 347 kmBrodribb Rivertributary
  14. 352 kmBass Straitat -3 m

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

River in New South Wales and Victoria, Australia

At the mouth it carries 67 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 37 seconds. It drops from 1,128 m to -3 m, 3.2 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 15,779 km², about the size of TL. 14,000 people live in it. Highest water: from June to August and November. It is heavily dammed: reservoirs can hold 260% of a year's flow.

Read more on Wikipedia

Where to start

  • JindabyneLargest city on its banks · 6,547 people
  • Cooma Snowy Mountains Airport (OOM)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 34 km from the cityCar hire at MIM airport (Merimbula)Discover Cars · Affiliate link
  • On the water10 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
  • Kayak and canoe39 put-ins and rapids mapped (OpenStreetMap)
  • From November to MarchThe best months to visit

Snowy River, month by month

Highest water: from June to August and November

Best months to visit: from November to March.

58
18°63 mmJan
33
18°58 mmFeb
32
16°63 mmMar
36
13°55 mmApr
58
10°63 mmMay
83
7°67 mmJun
91
6°58 mmJul
83
7°57 mmAug
76
9°65 mmSep
82
12°74 mmOct
95
14°83 mmNov
83
16°72 mmDec
Water (estimated flow)Air (average) Rain (mm)Best months

From about 32 m³/s in the lowest month to 95 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

Snowy River: the basin in numbers

15,085 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.

DammedReservoirs can hold 260% of a year's flow: much of the river is a chain of lakes.
  • 14,000people live in the basin
  • 1/km²people per km²
  • 830maverage altitude of the basin
  • 923mmof rain a year (basin average)
  • 10.5°Caverage air temperature
  • 37%protected areas
  • 1.0%covered by lakes
  • 5.5km³held in reservoirs

What covers the basin

  • 69% Forest
  • 16% 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

Snowy River: what you find on the way

  • 8DamsJindabyne Dam and 7 more
  • 1Weirs
  • 3WaterfallsCorrowong Falls, Raymond Falls
  • 39RapidsCurrawong Falls, Snowy Falls, Earhole Rapid and 36 more
  • 8Boat rampsKayak launch, Brodribb Boat Ramp and 6 more
  • 2Boat rentalsCanoes
  • 1River beachesSandy Beach

From OpenStreetMap, within 1.9 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.

Cross-checked with our atlases

Snowy 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.

  • 3lakes on its wayLakeyas
  • 5beaches at the mouth and on the banksCoastya
  • 47mountains at the sourcePeakyas

Lakes and reservoirs (3)

Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas

  1. Lake Jindabynekm 5624km²
  2. Lake Curlipkm 3771.4km²
  3. Lake Wat Watkm 3790.8km²

Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗

Beaches (5)

At the mouth (25 km) and on the banks, by Coastya

  1. Jacksons Beach8.8 km away19.3°C
  2. Mots Beach2.6 km away19.3°C
  3. Ricardo Beach7.8 km away19.3°C
  4. Salmon Beach17 km away19.3°C
  5. Ninety Mile Beach17 km away19.1°C

Open Coastya ↗

Mountains at the source (47)

Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas

  1. Mount Kosciuszko2.7 km away · prominence 2,228 m2,228m
  2. Mount Townsend6.8 km away · prominence 189 m2,209m
  3. Mount Twynam9.6 km away · prominence 155 m2,195m
  4. Rams Head1.9 km away2,190m
  5. Carruthers Peak7.5 km away · prominence 85 m2,145m
  6. Etheridge Ridge2.1 km away2,180m
  7. Baldwin's Peak2.1 km away2,180m
  8. Mount Stilwell5.9 km away

39 more on PeakyasOpen Peakyas ↗

From space

The source and the mouth, seen from orbit

Snowy River: satellite view of the source
The source14 km across
Snowy River: satellite view of the mouth
The mouth17 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

Snowy River in pictures

Snowy River 01
Axel Strauß · CC BY-SA 3.0
Snowy River mouth at Marlo
Peter Campbell · CC BY-SA 3.0
Snowy River near the headwaters
MrActiniuM · CC BY-SA 4.0
Snowy River near Suggan Buggan
Smegs07 at English Wikipedia · Public domain

Tributaries

Where it flows, and what flows into it

Tributaries (13)

Also: Eucumbene River, Thredbo River, Brodribb River, Deddick River, Delegate River, Rodger River, Gungarlin River, Maclaughlin River, Mowamba River, Jacobs River, Buchan River, Suggan Buggan River, Pinch River

Where these numbers come from

Name, length, placesWikidata (Q498876) · 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, 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.

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