United States 
In numbers.
82m³/s
Average flow
estimate
Feb–May
Best months
244m
Elevation
The water at Cumberland Falls, month by month
It roars from December to May.
The fullest months: from December to May.
- 125 m³/sJan
- 157 m³/sFeb
- 169 m³/sMar
- 187 m³/sApr
- 147 m³/sMay
- 97 m³/sJun
- 84 m³/sJul
- 51 m³/sAug
- 39 m³/sSep
- 25 m³/sOct
- 56 m³/sNov
- 108 m³/sDec
From about 25 m³/s in the lowest month to 187 m³/s in the highest. Best months to go, with plenty of water and pleasant days: from February to May.
Estimate: the timing comes from rain, snowmelt and evaporation (NASA POWER, 1991–2020); the amounts from the river model of HydroATLAS (WaterGAP, 1971–2000). Dams upstream can change the real flow.
Waterfall in the U.S. state of Kentucky
Cumberland Falls is a waterfall in United States. It lies within Cumberland Falls State Resort Park.
Getting there.
- Whitley Citynearest town · 17 km in a straight line
- Parking 220 m awaynearest car park in OpenStreetMap, straight line
- McGhee Tyson Airport (TYS)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 118 km in a straight lineCar hire at TYS airport (Knoxville/Maryville)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- From February to Maybest months to go (estimate)
Plan your visit
Stay, explore and get there
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.
Seen from the sky.
8 × 8 km of cloud-free satellite image, with what OpenStreetMap knows around the falls.
N
2 km
Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 (EOX, CC BY 4.0), 8 × 8 km, north up. Points © OpenStreetMap contributors.
The line follows the river as mapped in OpenStreetMap; heights from the 30 m Copernicus model, which smooths narrow drops — the published height of the falls is the one above.
Around the falls the river drops 9 m in 3.5 km. Here the river runs about 91 m below the lower rim of its valley.
What is around.
- —viewpoints
- 2waymarked walking routesSheltowee Trace NRT Section 27 "Moonbow", Sheltowee Trace NRT Section 28
- 8car parks
- —swimming spots
- 2picnic sites
- 4toilets
- 1information boards and visitor centres
- —bus stops within 1 km
- 2other named waterfalls within 4 kmEagle Creek Falls, Dog Slaughter Falls
- —caves
- 2campsitesRidgeline Campground, Clifty Campground
- 2hotels, B&Bs and huts within 6 kmFarmer's Wife Inn, Dupont Lodge
- —restaurants and cafés within 3 km
Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit, up to 2 km around the falls (unless noted). A low number may just mean nobody has mapped it yet. © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).
Towns nearby
- Whitley City17 km in a straight line
- Stearns20 km in a straight line
- Williamsburg20 km in a straight line
- Pine Knot22 km in a straight line
Weather
The weather, month by month.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Afternoon °C | 6 | 9 | 14 | 20 | 24 | 29 | 31 | 31 | 28 | 22 | 14 | 9 |
| Night °C | -3 | -2 | 3 | 8 | 14 | 18 | 20 | 19 | 15 | 9 | 2 | -1 |
| Rain & snow (mm) | 97 | 114 | 109 | 124 | 116 | 112 | 143 | 95 | 92 | 88 | 94 | 120 |
| Wet days | 11 | 11 | 12 | 12 | 15 | 16 | 18 | 13 | 10 | 9 | 10 | 12 |
| Sun h/day | 3.5 | 3.9 | 5.2 | 7.0 | 7.3 | 8.6 | 8.0 | 7.9 | 7.1 | 5.9 | 5.0 | 3.2 |
| Snow on the ground (cm) | 10 | 10 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 7 |
Long-term averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, with temperatures carried to the height of the falls (244 m) at −6.5 °C per 1,000 m. Not a forecast.
Photos
Through visitors' eyes.
Recent years
Wet years and dry years
Rain of each month as a share of the 1991–2020 average. A wet season above 100 % usually means a fuller waterfall.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 147% | 191% | 198% | 118% | 123% | 118% | 69% | 112% | 110% | 135% | 63% | 96% |
| 2021 | 89% | 137% | 152% | 46% | 77% | 109% | 109% | 148% | 85% | 157% | 55% | 91% |
| 2022 | 143% | 157% | 57% | 86% | 98% | 48% | 183% | 103% | 62% | 41% | 83% | 92% |
| 2023 | 134% | 102% | 90% | 76% | 47% | 132% | 66% | 114% | 44% | 39% | 44% | 70% |
| 2024 | 130% | 102% | 75% | 86% | 192% | 73% | 110% | 71% | 121% | 8% | 82% | 104% |
| 2025 | 101% | 185% | 128% | 142% | 160% | 137% | 57% | 33% | 113% | 117% | 76% | 56% |
130% wetter than usual 70% drier than usual
Compare with the waterfalls nearby.
Cumberland Falls
United States
- —Height
- 82 m³/sAverage flow
- Feb–MayBest months
Upper Whitewater Falls
United States
- 125 mHeight
- 1.2 m³/sAverage flow
- Feb–Apr, DecBest months
About these numbers
| Names, height, width, river | Wikidata (Q38488) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| River flow and catchment | HydroATLAS / RiverATLAS v1.0 (Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 |
| Climate | NASA POWER, 1991–2020 |
| Relief, river profile, 3D model | Copernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA |
| Paths, viewpoints, parking | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.
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