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Wadi

Wadi Hanifa

92 km from source to mouth · Saudi Arabia.

Saudi ArabiaSaudi Arabia

Follow the riverMonth by month

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

In numbers

Length

92km

Basin

2,186km²

Drop

226m

from 804 m to 578 m

Country

1

The journey

From source to mouth

92 km of river and 4 stops on the way: 4 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.

804 m578 m
Sourceat 804 m0 km
Al ‘Uyaynah8,649 people29 km
Al Jubaylah8,005 people36 km
Ad Dir‘īyah61,609 people58 km
‘Irqah42,179 people73 km
Mouthat 578 m92 km
02040608092 km
  1. 0 kmSourceat 804 m
  2. 29 kmAl ‘Uyaynah8,649 people
  3. 36 kmAl Jubaylah8,005 people
  4. 58 kmAd Dir‘īyah61,609 people
  5. 73 km‘Irqah42,179 people
  6. 92 kmMouthat 578 m

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

Wadi in Najd, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

It drops from 804 m to 578 m, 2.5 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 2,186 km², about the size of KM. 571,000 people live in it. Highest water: April; lowest: from July to October. No large dam holds it back: it is one of the world's free-flowing rivers.

Read more on Wikipedia

Where to start

Wadi Hanifa, month by month

Highest water: April

Lowest water: from July to October. Best months to visit: from February to April and from November to December.

14°17 mmJan
16°7 mmFeb
21°32 mmMar
25°31 mmApr
31°11 mmMay
33°0 mmJun
34°0 mmJul
32°0 mmAug
31°0 mmSep
26°2 mmOct
20°8 mmNov
15°13 mmDec
Water (estimated flow)Air (average) Rain (mm)Best months

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

Wadi Hanifa: the basin in numbers

2,186 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.

Free-flowingDams upstream can hold only 0.0% of a year's flow: the river still keeps its natural rhythm.
  • 571,000people live in the basin
  • 261/km²people per km²
  • 772maverage altitude of the basin
  • 131mmof rain a year (basin average)
  • 24.3°Caverage air temperature

What covers the basin

  • 8% Cropland
  • 27% 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

Wadi Hanifa: what you find on the way

  • 8DamsAl Ilb Dam and 7 more

From OpenStreetMap, within 1.4 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.

From space

The source and the mouth, seen from orbit

Wadi Hanifa: satellite view of the source
The source14 km across
Wadi Hanifa: satellite view of the mouth
The mouth10 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

Wadi Hanifa in pictures

Lake at Wadi Hanifah (5218227168)
Peter Dowley from Dubai, United Arab Emirates · CC BY 2.0
Wadi Hanifa from King Fahd Rd
Dainomite · CC BY-SA 3.0
Wadi Hanifa from King Fahd Rd2
Dainomite · CC BY-SA 3.0
Wadi Hanifa
Ahmedpictures12 · CC BY-SA 4.0

Where these numbers come from

Name, length, placesWikidata (Q3595382) · 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

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