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River

Winisk River

600 km from source to mouth · Canada.

CanadaCanadaFlows into Hudson Bay

Follow the riverMonth by month

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

In numbers

Length

600km

Average flow

690m³/s

Basin

67,300km²

Drop

233m

from 233 m to 0 m

Country

1

The journey

From source to mouth

600 km of river and 10 stops on the way: 0 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.

233 m0 m
Wunnummin Lakeat 233 m0 km
Galbraith Lake3.9 km²40 km
Chipai Lake119 km²139 km
Winisk Lake258 km²185 km
Asheweig Rivertributary339 km
Shamattawa Rivertributary542 km
Hudson Bayat 0 m600 km
0200400600 km
  1. 0 kmWunnummin Lakeat 233 m
  2. 8 kmWunnummin Lake273 km²
  3. 25 kmSennett Lake7.0 km²
  4. 40 kmGalbraith Lake3.9 km²
  5. 43 kmNibinamik Lake2.4 km²
  6. 78 kmBradden Lake4.9 km²
  7. 111 kmWapikopa Lake105 km²
  8. 139 kmChipai Lake119 km²
  9. 185 kmWinisk Lake258 km²
  10. 339 kmAsheweig Rivertributary
  11. 542 kmShamattawa Rivertributary
  12. 600 kmHudson Bayat 0 m

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

River in Kenora District, Ontario, Canada

At the mouth it carries 694 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 3.6 seconds. It drops from 233 m to 0 m, 0.4 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 67,300 km², about the size of LK. Highest water, with the snowmelt: from May to July; lowest: from January to April. No large dam holds it back: it is one of the world's free-flowing rivers.

Read more on Wikipedia

Where to start

  • Kayak and canoe90 put-ins and rapids mapped (OpenStreetMap)
  • From July to AugustThe best months to visit

Winisk River, month by month

Highest water: from May to July

Lowest water: from January to April. Freezing months (average below −4 °C): from November to April. Melting snow makes up much of its water. Best months to visit: from July to August.

500
-24°25 mmJan
500
-21°20 mmFeb
500
-14°24 mmMar
500
-4°33 mmApr
700
4°42 mmMay
700
11°70 mmJun
710
16°86 mmJul
610
14°78 mmAug
620
8°73 mmSep
620
2°56 mmOct
570
-8°44 mmNov
530
-19°29 mmDec
Water (estimated flow)Air (average) Rain (mm)Best months

From about 500 m³/s in the lowest month to 710 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

Winisk River: the basin in numbers

65,634 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.
  • 251people live in the basin
  • 195maverage altitude of the basin
  • 608mmof rain a year (basin average)
  • -2.6°Caverage air temperature
  • 7%protected areas
  • 9.8%covered by lakes
  • 24%permafrost

What covers the basin

  • 71% 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

Winisk River: what you find on the way

  • 90RapidsTashka Rapids, Seashell Rapids, Gneiss Rapids and 87 more

From OpenStreetMap, within 2.3 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.

Cross-checked with our atlases

Winisk 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.

  • 8lakes on its wayLakeyas

Lakes and reservoirs (8)

Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas

  1. Wunnummin Lakekm 8273km²
  2. Sennett Lakekm 257.0km²
  3. Galbraith Lakekm 403.9km²
  4. Nibinamik Lakekm 432.4km²
  5. Bradden Lakekm 784.9km²
  6. Wapikopa Lakekm 110105km²
  7. Chipai Lakekm 139119km²
  8. Winisk Lakekm 184258km²

Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗

From space

The source and the mouth, seen from orbit

Winisk River: satellite view of the source
The source14 km across
Winisk River: satellite view of the mouth
The mouth35 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.

Tributaries

Where it flows, and what flows into it

Tributaries (3)

Also: Pipestone River, Asheweig River, Shamattawa River

Where these numbers come from

Name, length, placesWikidata (Q80350) · 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 — 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