Canada 
In numbers.
71m³/s
Average flow
estimate
Apr–Jun
Oct
Best months
44m
Elevation
The water at Rideau Falls, month by month
It roars from March to July and in October.
The fullest months: from March to July and October. Below −4 °C on average (from December to February): the falls can partly freeze.
- 44 m³/sJan
- 54 m³/sFeb
- 98 m³/sMar
- 179 m³/sApr
- 217 m³/sMay
- 178 m³/sJun
- 94 m³/sJul
- 36 m³/sAug
- 31 m³/sSep
- 98 m³/sOct
- 60 m³/sNov
- 69 m³/sDec
From about 31 m³/s in the lowest month to 217 m³/s in the highest. Best months to go, with plenty of water and pleasant days: from April to June and 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.
Getting there.
- New Edinburghnearest town · 0.7 km in a straight line
- Parking 770 m awaynearest car park in OpenStreetMap, straight line
- Ottawa / Rockcliffe Airport (YRO)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 5 km in a straight lineCar hire at YOW airport (Ottawa)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.
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 10 m in 0.8 km.
What is around.
- 15viewpointsRideau Falls, Kìwekì Point Lookout, View on the River and 12 more
- 4waymarked walking routesRideau Trail - Ottawa Section, Confederation Boulevard - Sussex Drive, Confederation Boulevard - Elgin Street and 1 more
- 399car parks
- 3swimming spotsEast Wharf Dock, Canadian Museum of History Dock
- 120picnic sites
- 18toilets
- 88information boards and visitor centres
- 33bus stops within 1 km
- 1other named waterfalls within 4 km
- —caves
- 1campsitesTree house
- 79hotels, B&Bs and huts within 6 kmSwiss Hotel, Hilton Garden Inn, Duvernay Studios & Suites and 76 more
- 450restaurants 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
- New Edinburgh0.7 km in a straight line
- Lowertown1.1 km in a straight line
- Rockcliffe Park1.4 km in a straight line
- ByWard Market1.6 km in a straight line
- Hull1.9 km in a straight line
- Sandy Hill2.3 km in a straight line
- Vanier2.4 km in a straight line
- Centretown2.9 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 | -4 | 2 | 11 | 19 | 24 | 26 | 26 | 22 | 13 | 6 | -2 |
| Night °C | -16 | -15 | -8 | 0 | 7 | 13 | 16 | 15 | 10 | 4 | -2 | -10 |
| Rain & snow (mm) | 61 | 55 | 64 | 85 | 85 | 104 | 98 | 88 | 87 | 99 | 73 | 80 |
| Wet days | 13 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 16 | 16 | 14 | 13 | 14 | 13 | 14 |
| Sun h/day | 3.2 | 5.0 | 6.2 | 6.4 | 7.1 | 7.8 | 8.4 | 7.7 | 6.5 | 3.8 | 2.7 | 1.9 |
| Snow on the ground (cm) | 20 | 21 | 16 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 12 | 19 |
Long-term averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, with temperatures carried to the height of the falls (44 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 | 158% | 97% | 136% | 77% | 56% | 73% | 83% | 159% | 64% | 86% | 77% | 99% |
| 2021 | 60% | 87% | 94% | 58% | 31% | 104% | 114% | 53% | 120% | 116% | 84% | 76% |
| 2022 | 64% | 118% | 98% | 108% | 108% | 96% | 75% | 175% | 79% | 37% | 89% | 120% |
| 2023 | 117% | 115% | 86% | 117% | 67% | 69% | 136% | 111% | 29% | 89% | 54% | 106% |
| 2024 | 102% | 38% | 65% | 106% | 92% | 138% | 127% | 140% | 64% | 46% | 84% | 103% |
| 2025 | 46% | 120% | 122% | 107% | 74% | 61% | 60% | 60% | 39% | 111% | 94% | 77% |
130% wetter than usual 70% drier than usual
Compare with the waterfalls nearby.
Rideau Falls
Canada
- —Height
- 71 m³/sAverage flow
- Apr–Jun, OctBest months
About these numbers
| Names, height, width, river | Wikidata (Q2967741) · 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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