River
Churchill River
856 km from source to mouth · Canada.
CanadaFlows into Goose Bay
In numbers
Length
856km
Average flow
1,900m³/s
Basin
79,800km²
Drop
483m
from 482 m to -1 m
Country
1
The journey
From source to mouth
856 km of river and 18 stops on the way: 0 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmSmallwood Reservoirat 482 m
- 0 kmLean Lake1.6 km²
- 14 kmMoss Lake24 km²
- 15 kmWindup Lake0.9 km²
- 21 kmKenty Lake1.0 km²
- 47 kmQuartzite Lake13 km²
- 57 kmMontgomery Lake46 km²
- 296 kmSmallwood Reservoir5,814 km²
- 331 kmLemon Lake140 km²
- 405 kmMetchin Rivertributary
- 505 kmWinokapau Lake65 km²
- 534 kmCache Rivertributary
- 618 kmMinipi Rivertributary
- 675 kmGull Lake15 km²
- 677 kmPinus Rivertributary
- 740 kmMuskrat Falls
- 787 kmMuskrat Lake1.0 km²
- 788 kmTraverspine Rivertributary
- 800 kmMud Lake9.8 km²
- 856 kmGoose Bayat -1 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
River in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada
At the mouth it carries 1,924 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 1.3 seconds. It drops from 482 m to -1 m, 0.6 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 79,800 km², about the size of CZ. 15,000 people live in it. Highest water, with the snowmelt: from May to July; lowest: from January to April. It is heavily dammed: reservoirs can hold 82% of a year's flow.
Where to start
- Happy Valley-Goose BayLargest city on its banks · 7,572 people
- Goose Bay Airport (YYR)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 7 km from the cityCar hire at YYR airport (Goose Bay)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- Kayak and canoe53 put-ins and rapids mapped (OpenStreetMap)
- From July to AugustThe best months to visit
Churchill River, month by month
Highest water: from May to July
Lowest water: from January to April. Freezing months (average below −4 °C): from November to April. Melting snow makes up much of its water. Best months to visit: from July to August.
From about 1,400 m³/s in the lowest month to 3,300 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
Churchill River: the basin in numbers
92,709 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 15,000people live in the basin
- 0/km²people per km²
- 509maverage altitude of the basin
- 870mmof rain a year (basin average)
- -3.8°Caverage air temperature
- 19.2%covered by lakes
- 39%permafrost
- 50km³held in reservoirs
What covers the basin
- 65% Forest
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
Churchill River: what you find on the way
- 2WeirsJacopie spillway, Whitefish weir
- 1Waterfalls
- 53Rapids
From OpenStreetMap, within 2.4 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Churchill 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.
1waterfall on the riverCascadyas
12lakes on its wayLakeyas
Waterfalls (1)
On the river, by Cascadyas
- Muskrat Fallskm 529
Cascadyas is coming soonOpen Cascadyas ↗
Lakes and reservoirs (12)
Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas
- Moss Lakekm 1024km²
- Quartzite Lakekm 3313km²
- Montgomery Lakekm 4146km²
- Smallwood Reservoirkm 2125,814km²
- Lemon Lakekm 237140km²
- Winokapau Lakekm 36165km²
- Gull Lakekm 48315km²
- Mud Lakekm 5739.8km²
4 more on LakeyasLakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗
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
Churchill River in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
Tributaries (5)
Also: Minipi River, Traverspine River, Pinus River, Cache River, Metchin River
Where these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q291233) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| Course, profile, basin | RiverATLAS v1.0 (HydroATLAS, Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 — followed from the source to the mouth 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 | Cascadyas, Lakeyas — 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?
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