United Kingdom 
In numbers.
5.4m³/s
Average flow
estimate
Apr
Aug–Oct
Best months
267m
Elevation
The water at Low Force, month by month
It roars from July to April.
It carries water fairly evenly through the year.
- 6.7 m³/sJan
- 5.3 m³/sFeb
- 4.8 m³/sMar
- 4.3 m³/sApr
- 2.5 m³/sMay
- 3.6 m³/sJun
- 4.4 m³/sJul
- 6.7 m³/sAug
- 4.6 m³/sSep
- 6.9 m³/sOct
- 8.3 m³/sNov
- 7.8 m³/sDec
From about 2.5 m³/s in the lowest month to 8.3 m³/s in the highest. Best months to go, with plenty of water and pleasant days: April and from August to October.
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 County Durham, England, UK
Low Force is a waterfall in United Kingdom.
Getting there.
- Newbigginnearest town · 1.2 km in a straight line
- Parking 180 m awaynearest car park in OpenStreetMap, straight line
- Teesside International Airport (MME)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 49 km in a straight lineCar hire at NCL airport (Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- April and from August to 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.
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 49 m in 3.5 km. Here the river runs about 40 m below the lower rim of its valley.
What is around.
- 1viewpoints
- 4waymarked walking routesPennine Way (Middleton in Teesdale to Kirk Yetholm), Teesdale Way (Dufton to Middleton in Teesdale), Low Force Geotrail and 1 more
- 7car parks
- —swimming spots
- 12picnic sites
- 3toilets
- 6information boards and visitor centres
- 2bus stops within 1 km
- 7other named waterfalls within 4 kmHigh Force, "Upper" Low Force, Sand Force and 4 more
- 1caves
- 4campsitesDaleview Holiday Park, Low Way Farm Camping Site, Leekworth Caravan and Camping Park and 1 more
- 11hotels, B&Bs and huts within 6 kmEast Underhurth Farm B&B, The Forresters, Westfield Cottage and 8 more
- 1restaurants 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
- Newbiggin1.2 km in a straight line
- Holwick1.3 km in a straight line
- Mickleton7.8 km in a straight line
- Eggleston10 km in a straight line
- Stanhope14 km in a straight line
- Barnard Castle19 km in a straight line
- Wolsingham20 km in a straight line
- Cockfield22 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 | 4 | 5 | 7 | 10 | 14 | 17 | 18 | 18 | 16 | 12 | 8 | 5 |
| Night °C | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 8 | 10 | 10 | 8 | 6 | 3 | 1 |
| Rain & snow (mm) | 70 | 59 | 58 | 55 | 62 | 86 | 90 | 100 | 69 | 86 | 81 | 76 |
| Wet days | 17 | 14 | 14 | 13 | 14 | 16 | 17 | 17 | 14 | 16 | 18 | 17 |
| Sun h/day | 1.3 | 2.3 | 3.7 | 5.4 | 6.4 | 5.5 | 5.7 | 4.8 | 4.4 | 2.5 | 1.5 | 1.1 |
| Snow on the ground (cm) | 10 | 9 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 8 |
Long-term averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, with temperatures carried to the height of the falls (267 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 | 81% | 192% | 69% | 25% | 29% | 117% | 101% | 118% | 81% | 130% | 78% | 154% |
| 2021 | 190% | 167% | 82% | 28% | 186% | 30% | 94% | 57% | 61% | 134% | 66% | 116% |
| 2022 | 41% | 155% | 81% | 59% | 105% | 54% | 59% | 37% | 118% | 110% | 115% | 95% |
| 2023 | 78% | 43% | 160% | 128% | 63% | 65% | 169% | 97% | 139% | 120% | 141% | 187% |
| 2024 | 165% | 135% | 143% | 173% | 158% | 71% | 86% | 55% | 138% | 94% | 48% | 104% |
| 2025 | 106% | 65% | 50% | 24% | 52% | 74% | 93% | 33% | 189% | 81% | 150% | 136% |
130% wetter than usual 70% drier than usual
Compare with the waterfalls nearby.
Low Force
United Kingdom
- —Height
- 5.4 m³/sAverage flow
- Apr, Aug–OctBest months
About these numbers
| Names, height, width, river | Wikidata (Q1674405) · 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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