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Japan Japan Waterfall

Nabe Falls

A 10 m drop.

When to go

Nabegataki Falls, Kumamoto, Japan; July 2018 (02)
Big Ben in Japan · CC BY-SA 2.0

In numbers.

10m

Height

0.44m³/s

Average flow

estimate

Jun–Sep

Best months

43kW

Water power

estimate

The water at Nabe Falls, month by month

It roars from June to July.

The fullest months: from June to July. The thinnest: from December to February.

  1. 0.1 m³/sJan
  2. 0.2 m³/sFeb
  3. 0.3 m³/sMar
  4. 0.4 m³/sApr
  5. 0.4 m³/sMay
  6. 0.8 m³/sJun
  7. 1.0 m³/sJul
  8. 0.7 m³/sAug
  9. 0.6 m³/sSep
  10. 0.4 m³/sOct
  11. 0.3 m³/sNov
  12. 0.2 m³/sDec
high water best months to go

From about 0.15 m³/s in the lowest month to 0.99 m³/s in the highest. Best months to go, with plenty of water and pleasant days: from June to September.

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.

Nabe Falls is a waterfall in Japan. The water falls 10 m over a front 20 m wide.

Read more on Wikipedia

Getting there.

Plan your visit

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How big is it?

How big it really is.

10 mNabe 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.

43 kW

About 0.44 m³/s falling 10 m: the power of the water as it drops.

  • enough to power about 11 homes, if it were all turned into electricity

Power of falling water = density × gravity × flow × height. Average flow and height as shown above; an estimate.

Seen from the sky.

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

Nabe 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 蓬来川 through the falls
350 m375 m400 m425 mNabe Falls-1 km-0.5 km0+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.

The valley below the falls
−690 m+690 m

Around the falls the river drops 74 m in 2.8 km. Here the river runs about 28 m below the lower rim of its valley.

What is around.

  • 1viewpoints鍋ヶ滝
  • —waymarked walking routes
  • 4car parks
  • —swimming spots
  • —picnic sites
  • 1toilets
  • 1information boards and visitor centres
  • —bus stops within 1 km
  • 8other named waterfalls within 4 km出合いの滝, かっぱ滝, 二俣滝 and 5 more
  • —caves
  • —campsites
  • 9hotels, B&Bs and huts within 6 km杖立温泉 米屋別荘, ふくみ山荘, 四季の宿 わかのや and 6 more
  • —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

  • Miyahara3.6 km in a straight line
  • Akababa5.5 km in a straight line
  • Hikiji17 km in a straight line
  • Tsukawaki19 km in a straight line
  • Hita22 km in a straight line
  • Aso23 km in a straight line
  • Ubuyama24 km in a straight line

Weather

The weather, month by month.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Afternoon °C691218232529302620159
Night °C-2-12712172121181260
Rain & snow (mm)691011291561863983962162261259679
Wet days9912121218191915999
Sun h/day3.74.45.56.06.14.05.06.45.05.24.53.6
Snow on the ground (cm)651000000002

Long-term averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, with temperatures carried to the height of the falls (428 m) at −6.5 °C per 1,000 m. Not a forecast.

Photos

Through visitors' eyes.

Nabega waterfall A
さかおり · CC BY-SA 4.0
Nabega waterfall B
さかおり · CC BY-SA 4.0
Kumamoto-Nabegataki Waterfall-m
小国町 · CC BY 4.0

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
2020173%122%101%55%121%115%212%42%148%78%72%68%
202171%100%103%80%224%50%58%434%75%32%110%38%
202280%29%120%126%67%68%92%127%157%43%55%47%
2023126%86%107%150%195%150%144%125%37%32%53%74%
202459%184%192%149%138%113%89%136%84%186%202%16%
202538%53%119%72%218%117%44%246%116%85%36%72%

130% wetter than usual 70% drier than usual

Compare with the waterfalls nearby.

Nabe Falls

Japan

  • 10 mHeight
  • 0.44 m³/sAverage flow
  • Jun–SepBest months

Sgaru Falls

Japan

  • 60 mHeight
  • 13 m³/sAverage flow
  • Jun–SepBest months

See the guide

Shindō Falls

Japan

  • 83 mHeight
  • 2.1 m³/sAverage flow
  • Jun–SepBest months

See the guide

Nishishiiya Falls

Japan

  • 86 mHeight
  • 1.3 m³/sAverage flow
  • Jun–SepBest months

See the guide

About these numbers

Names, height, width, riverWikidata (Q11650601) · CC0
River flow and catchmentHydroATLAS / RiverATLAS v1.0 (Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0
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.