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United States United States Waterfall

Eternal Flame Falls

A 9 m drop.

When to go

360 degree photo Eternal Flame Falls Orchard Park NY 2025-09-09 12-20-41 1
G. Edward Johnson · CC BY 4.0

In numbers.

9m

Height

Apr–Jun
Oct

Best months

357m

Elevation

The water at Eternal Flame Falls, month by month

It roars from March to June and from October to November.

The fullest months: from March to June and from October to November. Below −4 °C on average (from January to February): the falls can partly freeze.

  1. 75%Jan
  2. 72%Feb
  3. 81%Mar
  4. 96%Apr
  5. 100%May
  6. 83%Jun
  7. 73%Jul
  8. 66%Aug
  9. 71%Sep
  10. 93%Oct
  11. 78%Nov
  12. 74%Dec
high water best months to go may freeze

Best months to go, with plenty of water and pleasant days: from April to June and October.

Estimate from rain, snowmelt and evaporation month by month (NASA POWER, 1991–2020) around the falls. Dams upstream can change the real flow.

Waterfall in New York state, United States, known for flammable natural gas vent

Eternal Flame Falls is a waterfall in United States. The water falls 9 m. It lies within Chestnut Ridge Park.

Read more on Wikipedia

Getting there.

  • North Bostonnearest town · 2.7 km in a straight line
  • Parking 220 m awaynearest car park in OpenStreetMap, straight line
  • Buffalo Niagara International Airport (BUF)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 27 km in a straight lineCar hire at BUF airport (Buffalo)Discover Cars · Affiliate link
  • From April to June and Octoberbest 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.

How big is it?

How big it really is.

9.1 mEternalFlame Falls1.8 ma person9.0 ma house56 mTower of Pisa

Height of the drop from Wikidata. Buildings and the person are drawn at the same scale.

Seen from the sky.

8 × 8 km of cloud-free satellite image, with what OpenStreetMap knows around the falls.

Eternal Flame Falls seen from above (Sentinel-2) N 2 km

Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 (EOX, CC BY 4.0), 8 × 8 km, north up. Points © OpenStreetMap contributors.

The Shale Creek through the falls
300 m350 mEternal Flame Falls0+0.5 km+1 km+1.5 km← upstreamdownstream →

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 87 m in 2.2 km.

What is around.

  • 1viewpointsPipeline Confluence
  • 2waymarked walking routesEternal Flame Trail, Ward Hill Trail
  • 19car parks
  • —swimming spots
  • 4picnic sites
  • 1toilets
  • 1information boards and visitor centres
  • —bus stops within 1 km
  • —other named waterfalls within 4 km
  • —caves
  • —campsites
  • —hotels, B&Bs and huts within 6 km
  • 5restaurants 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

  • North Boston2.7 km in a straight line
  • Hamburg6.5 km in a straight line
  • Orchard Park7.3 km in a straight line
  • Boston8.2 km in a straight line
  • Blasdell12 km in a straight line
  • Eden13 km in a straight line
  • Wanakah13 km in a straight line
  • East Aurora14 km in a straight line

Weather

The weather, month by month.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Afternoon °C-1051219242626231582
Night °C-8-8-4181316161260-4
Rain & snow (mm)67586782929710292931067784
Wet days151113141415161413141416
Sun h/day2.03.04.45.77.07.88.27.66.43.72.61.3
Snow on the ground (cm)1717136000002916

Long-term averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, with temperatures carried to the height of the falls (357 m) at −6.5 °C per 1,000 m. Not a forecast.

Photos

Through visitors' eyes.

Awestruck at the majesty of Eternal Flame Falls, Chestnut Ridge Park, Orchard Park, New York - 20210323
Andre Carrotflower · CC BY-SA 4.0
Eternal Flame 2
Annsadocha · CC BY-SA 4.0
Eternal Flame Falls 2
Rory Szwed · Public domain

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.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
2020102%140%116%104%81%66%114%67%61%91%94%96%
202168%76%52%96%63%90%185%123%115%136%76%82%
202294%174%94%97%88%67%88%109%142%52%172%87%
2023149%100%142%108%42%70%127%93%47%84%72%107%
2024156%55%93%161%80%110%88%109%94%56%106%108%
202574%96%71%115%145%105%64%54%31%118%106%112%

130% wetter than usual 70% drier than usual

Compare with the waterfalls nearby.

Eternal Flame Falls

United States

  • 9 mHeight
  • —Average flow
  • Apr–Jun, OctBest months

Niagara Falls

United States

  • 57 mHeight
  • —Average flow
  • Apr–May, Oct–NovBest months

See the guide

Horseshoe Falls

United States

  • 51 mHeight
  • 8,716 m³/sAverage flow
  • Apr–JulBest months

See the guide

American Falls

United States

  • 34 mHeight
  • 8,716 m³/sAverage flow
  • Apr–JulBest months

See the guide

About these numbers

Names, height, width, riverWikidata (Q5402647) · CC0
ClimateNASA POWER, 1991–2020
Relief, river profile, 3D modelCopernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA
Paths, viewpoints, parking© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL
ImagesEOX 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.

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.