River
Atchafalaya River
270 km from source to mouth · United States.
United StatesFlows into Atchafalaya Bay
In numbers
Length
270km
Average flow
240m³/s
Basin
150,737km²
Drop
14m
from 14 m to 0 m
Country
1
The journey
From source to mouth
270 km of river and 9 stops on the way: 2 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmRed Riverat 14 m
- 7 kmBelson Lake0.3 km²
- 8 kmRed Rivertributary
- 111 kmKrotz Springs Bridge
- 138 kmAtchafalaya Basin Bridge
- 262 kmMorgan City11,835 people
- 262 kmLong-Allen Bridge
- 262 kmE. J. "Lionel" Grizzaffi Bridge
- 262 kmBerwick4,765 people
- 263 kmBerwick Bay Bridge
- 270 kmAtchafalaya Bayat 0 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
River Louisiana, United States
At the mouth it carries 240 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 10 seconds. Its basin covers 150,737 km², about the size of BD. 413,000 people live in it. Highest water: from January to February. Its dams hold back little of its water (4.2% of a year's flow).
Where to start
- Morgan CityLargest city on its banks · 11,835 people
- Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport (BTR)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 93 km from the cityCar hire at LFT airport (Lafayette)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- On the water14 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- From March to May and from October to NovemberThe best months to visit
Atchafalaya River, month by month
Highest water: from January to February
Best months to visit: from March to May and from October to November.
From about 140 m³/s in the lowest month to 360 m³/s in the highest. An estimate: the monthly flow is modelled from the lowest and highest months of WaterGAP (RiverATLAS, 1971–2000) and the rain and snow along the river (WorldClim). Dams change the real rhythm. The chip is the average air temperature; below it, the month's rain.
Plan the trip
Plan the trip: boat trips, a bed by the river, a car
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.
The basin
Atchafalaya River: the basin in numbers
12,050 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 413,000people live in the basin
- 35/km²people per km²
- 15maverage altitude of the basin
- 1,526mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 19.4°Caverage air temperature
- 3%protected areas
- 2.5%covered by lakes
- 0.3km³held in reservoirs
What covers the basin
- 50% Forest
- 27% Cropland
- 4% Pasture
- 2% Towns and cities
RiverATLAS (HydroATLAS v1.0, CC BY 4.0): land cover, people, protected areas, glaciers and dams over the whole basin upstream of the mouth.
Along the river
Atchafalaya River: what you find on the way
- 3LocksBerwick Lock, Lower Atchafalaya River
- 13Boat rampsLa 10 and 12 more
- 1Marinas
From OpenStreetMap, within 1.8 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Atchafalaya River in our other atlases
What our sister atlases know about the waterfalls on this river, the lakes it flows through, the beaches at its mouth, the mountains where it rises and the islands off its mouth.
1lake on its wayLakeyas
1beach at the mouth or on the banksCoastya
Lakes and reservoirs (1)
Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas
- Belson Lakekm 60.3km²
Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗
Beaches (1)
At the mouth (25 km) and on the banks, by Coastya
- North Beach4.2 km away30.0°C
From space
The source and the mouth, seen from orbit
Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 by EOX IT Services GmbH (contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2016), CC BY 4.0. The glowing line is the river as drawn by RiverATLAS.
Photos
Atchafalaya River in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
Tributaries (1)
Nearby
Rivers nearby
United States3,766 km12,700 m³/s201 km awayRed RiverUnited States2,189 km1,900 m³/s158 km awaySabine RiverUnited States820 km270 m³/s248 km awayMobile RiverUnited States72 km1,900 m³/s328 km awayTrinity RiverUnited States1,140 km210 m³/s334 km awayAlabama RiverUnited States640 km950 m³/s356 km awayBrazos RiverUnited States1,352 km240 m³/s411 km awayArkansas RiverUnited States2,364 km240 m³/s458 km awayWhere these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q753931) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| Course, profile, basin | RiverATLAS v1.0 (HydroATLAS, Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 — followed along the river network from the point given by Wikidata |
| Flow | WaterGAP (RiverATLAS), 1971–2000 · CC BY 4.0 |
| Climate along the river | WorldClim (RiverATLAS), 1970–2000 · CC BY 4.0 |
| Towns, bridges, dams | Wikidata · CC0; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0 |
| Along the river | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
| Our other atlases | Lakeyas, Coastya — Wikidata · CC0; © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0; HydroLAKES · CC BY 4.0; NOAA OISST |
Every source and licence is on the data sources page.
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.Coming soonVisit 
islands
Every island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Coming soonVisit 
rivers
Every river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.You are here
canyons
Every canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Coming soonVisit