River
Vefsna
163 km from source to mouth · Norway.
NorwayFlows into Vefsnfjord9th longest in Norway
In numbers
Length
163km
Average flow
210m³/s
Basin
4,122km²
Drop
598m
from 603 m to 5 m
Country
1
The journey
From source to mouth
163 km of river and 41 stops on the way: 1 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmUnkerelvaat 603 m
- 0 kmKroksjön0.5 km²
- 0 kmGårmsjön0.4 km²
- 16 kmGuoutelisjauretje0.5 km²
- 20 kmBåtsjön1.5 km²
- 22 kmVirisen28 km²
- 27 kmJärvoken1.4 km²
- 29 kmÖvre Vapstsjön2.4 km²
- 34 kmBleriken0.7 km²
- 39 kmNedre Vapstsjön2.3 km²
- 43 kmSkalvattnet4.4 km²
- 53 kmForsen
- 54 kmElvengforsen
- 54 kmDurriejaevrie2.0 km²
- 55 kmTrongelvforsen
- 56 kmLilleforsen
- 56 kmVakkermoforsen
- 58 kmGranholmforsen
- 59 kmTrøforsen
- 60 kmAspnesforsen
- 61 kmLangskjerforsen
- 67 kmHolmvatnet0.3 km²
- 72 kmUnkervatnet14 km²
- 74 kmStorforsen
- 77 kmTroforsen
- 79 kmTrangforsen
- 79 kmKvernhusforsen
- 91 kmHattfjellforsen
- 92 kmVriomforsen
- 92 kmFisklausforsen
- 93 kmMjølkarliforsen
- 104 kmGabpenjaevrie0.7 km²
- 124 kmBåfjellmo bridge
- 124 kmTrofors bridge
- 128 kmFellingforsen
- 135 kmDalforsen
- 136 kmLaksforsen
- 146 kmØvre Ravatnan0.3 km²
- 151 kmStorbjørnvatnet0.3 km²
- 161 kmØybrua
- 162 kmØya bridge
- 162 kmMosjøen9,636 people
- 163 kmVefsnfjordat 5 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
River in Grane, Hattfjelldal and Vefsn, Norway
At the mouth it carries 207 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 12 seconds. It drops from 603 m to 5 m, 3.7 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 4,122 km², about the size of CV. 5,855 people live in it. Highest water, with the snowmelt: May; lowest: from December to March. No large dam holds it back: it is one of the world's free-flowing rivers.
Where to start
- MosjøenLargest city on its banks · 9,636 people
- Mosjøen Airport, Kjærstad (MJF)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 6 km from the cityCar hire at MJF airport (Mosjøen)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- On the water1 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- Kayak and canoe2 put-ins and rapids mapped (OpenStreetMap)
- From July to AugustThe best months to visit
Vefsna, month by month
Highest water: May
Lowest water: from December to March. Melting snow makes up much of its water. Best months to visit: from July to August.
From about 40 m³/s in the lowest month to 630 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
Vefsna: the basin in numbers
4,121 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 5,855people live in the basin
- 1/km²people per km²
- 638maverage altitude of the basin
- 1,400mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 1.5°Caverage air temperature
- 24%protected areas
- 4.3%covered by lakes
- 4%permafrost
What covers the basin
- 48% Forest
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
Vefsna: what you find on the way
- 1Weirslaksetrapp
- 24WaterfallsForsen, Elvengforsen, Trongelvforsen and 21 more
- 2RapidsTroforsen, Gammeljordstryket
- 1Boat ramps
From OpenStreetMap, within 1.6 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Vefsna 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.
20waterfalls on the riverCascadyas
16lakes on its wayLakeyas
150mountains at the sourcePeakyas
Waterfalls (20)
On the river, by Cascadyas
- Trongelvforsenkm 54
- Hattfjellforsenkm 88
- Vriomforsenkm 89
- Fisklausforsenkm 89
- Mjølkarliforsenkm 90
- Fellingforsenkm 123
- Dalforsenkm 130
- Laksforsenkm 131
12 more on CascadyasCascadyas is coming soonOpen Cascadyas ↗
Lakes and reservoirs (16)
Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas
- Båtsjönkm 201.5km²
- Virisenkm 2128km²
- Övre Vapstsjönkm 282.4km²
- Nedre Vapstsjönkm 372.3km²
- Skalvattnetkm 424.4km²
- Unkervatnetkm 6914km²
- Øvre Ravatnankm 1410.3km²
- Storbjørnvatnetkm 1450.3km²
8 more on LakeyasLakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗
Mountains at the source (150)
Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas
- Blåfjellet13 km away · prominence 980 m1,292m
- Nonstindan13 km away863m
- Ramnåfjellet13 km away740m
- Krokmyrlia12 km away
- Berntlia12 km away
- Nordmyrlia8.4 km away
- Steinbukklia7.7 km away
- Almvasslia2.9 km away
142 more on PeakyasOpen Peakyas ↗
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
Vefsna in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
Tributaries (1)
Also: Skjervo
Nearby
Rivers nearby
Norway229 km280 m³/s167 km awayNidelvaNorway30 km84 m³/s299 km awayOrklaNorway179 km50 m³/s321 km awayPite River
Sweden400 km160 m³/s376 km awaySkellefte RiverSweden410 km160 m³/s390 km awayUme älvSweden467 km450 m³/s408 km awayVindel RiverSweden450 km250 m³/s382 km awayIndalsälvenSweden420 km460 m³/s420 km awayWhere these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q180550) · 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, 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?
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