United States 
In numbers.
33m
Height
OpenStreetMap
0.23m³/s
Average flow
estimate
May–Jun
Best months
74kW
Water power
estimate
The water at Yellowstone Falls, month by month
It roars from April to May.
The fullest months: from April to May, with the snowmelt. The thinnest: from August to October and from December to February. Below −4 °C on average (from November to March): the falls can partly freeze.
- 0.1 m³/sJan
- 0.1 m³/sFeb
- 0.3 m³/sMar
- 0.8 m³/sApr
- 0.8 m³/sMay
- 0.5 m³/sJun
- 0.2 m³/sJul
- 0.1 m³/sAug
- 0.1 m³/sSep
- 0.1 m³/sOct
- 0.2 m³/sNov
- 0.2 m³/sDec
From about 0.06 m³/s in the lowest month to 0.81 m³/s in the highest. Best months to go, with plenty of water and pleasant days: from May to June.
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.
Waterfalls in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming
Yellowstone Falls is a waterfall in United States. The water falls 33 m.
Getting there.
- Parking 210 m awaynearest car park in OpenStreetMap, straight line
- Yellowstone Airport (WYS)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 49 km in a straight lineCar hire at BZN airport (Bozeman)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- From May to Junebest 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.
Height of the drop as mapped in OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors). Buildings and the person are drawn at the same scale.
74 kW
About 0.23 m³/s falling 33 m: the power of the water as it drops.
- enough to power about 18 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 154 m in 2.3 km. Here the river runs about 87 m below the lower rim of its valley.
What is around.
- 29viewpointsArtist Point, Grand View, Brink of the Upper Falls and 26 more
- 3waymarked walking routesHoward Eaton Trail, Seven Mile Hole Trail, Mount Washburn Spur Trail
- 25car parks
- —swimming spots
- 2picnic sites
- 13toilets
- 16information boards and visitor centres
- —bus stops within 1 km
- 3other named waterfalls within 4 kmCrystal Falls, Lower Yellowstone Falls, Silver Cord Cascade
- —caves
- 14campsitesYurt Winter Camp, Cascade Lake West, Cascade Lake North and 11 more
- 8hotels, B&Bs and huts within 6 kmCanyon Lodge & Cabins, Cascade Lodge, Dunraven Lodge and 5 more
- 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).
Weather
The weather, month by month.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Afternoon °C | -6 | -5 | -1 | 3 | 10 | 17 | 23 | 22 | 17 | 7 | -1 | -7 |
| Night °C | -16 | -16 | -11 | -7 | -1 | 4 | 8 | 7 | 2 | -4 | -11 | -17 |
| Rain & snow (mm) | 81 | 75 | 77 | 82 | 81 | 70 | 37 | 40 | 52 | 69 | 79 | 91 |
| Wet days | 18 | 16 | 17 | 17 | 18 | 15 | 11 | 11 | 10 | 13 | 15 | 18 |
| Sun h/day | 4.1 | 5.6 | 6.5 | 8.0 | 8.1 | 10.1 | 12.1 | 10.3 | 8.4 | 5.5 | 3.9 | 3.2 |
| Snow on the ground (cm) | 69 | 84 | 81 | 42 | 13 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 12 | 20 | 42 |
Long-term averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, with temperatures carried to the height of the falls (2,330 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 | 109% | 90% | 113% | 81% | 109% | 157% | 89% | 47% | 59% | 98% | 98% | 41% |
| 2021 | 66% | 97% | 45% | 34% | 105% | 11% | 86% | 181% | 46% | 87% | 58% | 111% |
| 2022 | 46% | 20% | 33% | 91% | 132% | 130% | 38% | 131% | 94% | 73% | 102% | 91% |
| 2023 | 54% | 86% | 125% | 63% | 63% | 167% | 67% | 248% | 119% | 118% | 50% | 56% |
| 2024 | 59% | 115% | 131% | 66% | 90% | 56% | 66% | 105% | 113% | 37% | 56% | 72% |
| 2025 | 53% | 147% | 89% | 67% | 74% | 51% | 70% | 111% | 73% | 128% | 37% | 179% |
130% wetter than usual 70% drier than usual
Compare with the waterfalls nearby.
Yellowstone Falls
United States
- 33 mHeight
- 0.23 m³/sAverage flow
- May–JunBest months
Upper Falls of the Yellowstone River
United States
- 33 mHeight
- 25 m³/sAverage flow
- May–JunBest months
About these numbers
| Names, height, width, river | Wikidata (Q1030911) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| Height of the drop | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| 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.
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.
beaches
Find your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit 
lakes
Every lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Coming soonVisit 
mountains
Every summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit 
waterfalls
Every waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.You are here
islands
Every island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Visit 
rivers
Every river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.Visit 
canyons
Every canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Visit