China 
In numbers.
102m
Height
0.43m³/s
Average flow
estimate
May–Aug
Best months
434kW
Water power
estimate
The water at Three Gorges Waterfall, month by month
It roars from June to August.
The fullest months: from June to August. The thinnest: from December to February.
- 0.1 m³/sJan
- 0.2 m³/sFeb
- 0.4 m³/sMar
- 0.6 m³/sApr
- 0.7 m³/sMay
- 0.8 m³/sJun
- 0.9 m³/sJul
- 0.8 m³/sAug
- 0.6 m³/sSep
- 0.5 m³/sOct
- 0.4 m³/sNov
- 0.2 m³/sDec
From about 0.15 m³/s in the lowest month to 0.90 m³/s in the highest. Best months to go, with plenty of water and pleasant days: from May to August.
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.
Three Gorges Waterfall is a waterfall in China. The water falls 102 m over a front 80 m wide.
Getting there.
- Xiaoxitanearest town · 20 km in a straight line
- Yichang Sanxia Airport (YIH)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 47 km in a straight line
- From May to Augustbest months to go (estimate)
Plan your visit
Stay, explore and get there
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How big is it?
How big it really is.
Height of the drop from Wikidata. Buildings and the person are drawn at the same scale.
434 kW
About 0.43 m³/s falling 102 m: the power of the water as it drops.
- enough to power about 109 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.
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 213 m in 3.5 km. Here the river runs about 210 m below the lower rim of its valley.
What is around.
- 1viewpoints
- —waymarked walking routes
- —car parks
- —swimming spots
- —picnic sites
- —toilets
- —information boards and visitor centres
- 1bus stops within 1 km
- —other named waterfalls within 4 km
- —caves
- —campsites
- —hotels, B&Bs and huts within 6 km
- —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
- Xiaoxita20 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 | 8 | 11 | 17 | 23 | 27 | 30 | 32 | 31 | 27 | 22 | 16 | 10 |
| Night °C | -3 | 0 | 4 | 10 | 15 | 19 | 22 | 21 | 16 | 11 | 5 | -1 |
| Rain & snow (mm) | 27 | 38 | 56 | 100 | 130 | 155 | 179 | 147 | 91 | 79 | 48 | 19 |
| Wet days | 5 | 6 | 9 | 10 | 13 | 13 | 17 | 15 | 10 | 9 | 7 | 4 |
| Sun h/day | 2.7 | 2.5 | 3.7 | 4.1 | 4.0 | 4.2 | 4.7 | 4.7 | 3.2 | 3.1 | 3.2 | 3.1 |
| Snow on the ground (cm) | 9 | 8 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 5 |
Long-term averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, with temperatures carried to the height of the falls (440 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 | 353% | 129% | 175% | 66% | 93% | 269% | 183% | 141% | 139% | 204% | 119% | 92% |
| 2021 | 63% | 114% | 144% | 131% | 115% | 81% | 131% | 148% | 84% | 54% | 64% | 43% |
| 2022 | 143% | 51% | 288% | 186% | 42% | 104% | 112% | 18% | 18% | 83% | 69% | 8% |
| 2023 | 50% | 80% | 70% | 116% | 133% | 118% | 117% | 102% | 154% | 111% | 120% | 228% |
| 2024 | 202% | 182% | 133% | 83% | 50% | 75% | 130% | 25% | 64% | 94% | 68% | 39% |
| 2025 | 160% | 26% | 94% | 77% | 122% | 164% | 59% | 184% | 227% | 192% | 57% | 149% |
130% wetter than usual 70% drier than usual
About these numbers
| Names, height, width, river | Wikidata (Q55697102) · 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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