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River

Crna

207 km from source to mouth · North Macedonia.

North MacedoniaNorth MacedoniaFlows into Vardar2nd longest in North Macedonia

Follow the riverMonth by month

SourceMouthSkopje
The river and every tributary in its basin, drawn from RiverATLAS (CC BY 4.0).

In numbers

Length

207km

Average flow

37m³/s

Basin

4,526km²

Drop

442m

from 569 m to 127 m

Country

1

The journey

From source to mouth

207 km of river and 15 stops on the way: 13 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.

569 m127 m
Železnecat 569 m0 km
Makedonski Brod5,607 people18 km
Kozjak Lake13 km²76 km
Čair64,773 people110 km
Skopje474,889 people111 km
Zelenikovo4,020 people137 km
Lake Mladost0.5 km²161 km
Veles57,873 people168 km
Vardarat 127 m207 km
050100150207 km
  1. 0 kmŽeleznecat 569 m
  2. 7 kmPlasnica4,574 people
  3. 18 kmMakedonski Brod5,607 people
  4. 76 kmKozjak Lake13 km²
  5. 99 kmKondovo11,656 people
  6. 99 kmSaraj25,379 people
  7. 102 kmGjorče Petro41,000 people
  8. 110 kmČair64,773 people
  9. 111 kmSkopje474,889 people
  10. 120 kmKisela Voda58,216 people
  11. 128 kmStudeničani18,219 people
  12. 131 kmPetrovec8,298 people
  13. 137 kmZelenikovo4,020 people
  14. 161 kmLake Mladost0.5 km²
  15. 168 kmVeles57,873 people
  16. 197 kmGradsko3,737 people
  17. 207 kmVardarat 127 m

Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.

River in North Macedonia

At the mouth it carries 37 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 68 seconds. It drops from 569 m to 127 m, 2.1 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 4,526 km², about the size of CV. 1.8 million people live in it. Highest water: from December to January; lowest: from August to September. Dams and reservoirs hold back a large share of its water (25% of a year's flow).

Read more on Wikipedia

Where to start

  • SkopjeLargest city on its banks · 474,889 people
  • Skopje International Airport (SKP)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 16 km from the cityCar hire at SKP airport (Ilinden)Discover Cars · Affiliate link
  • On the water4 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
  • From May to SeptemberThe best months to visit

Crna, month by month

Highest water: from December to January

Lowest water: from August to September. Best months to visit: from May to September.

360
0°46 mmJan
290
3°43 mmFeb
240
7°45 mmMar
200
11°47 mmApr
210
16°64 mmMay
170
19°48 mmJun
120
22°38 mmJul
53
21°34 mmAug
58
18°42 mmSep
130
13°53 mmOct
270
6°66 mmNov
360
2°56 mmDec
Water (estimated flow)Air (average) Rain (mm)Best months

From about 53 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

Crna: the basin in numbers

20,129 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.

Heavily regulatedReservoirs can hold 25% of a year's flow: dams shape its seasons.
  • 1.8millionpeople live in the basin
  • 89/km²people per km²
  • 832maverage altitude of the basin
  • 628mmof rain a year (basin average)
  • 9.6°Caverage air temperature
  • 5%protected areas
  • 0.2%covered by lakes
  • 1.3km³held in reservoirs

What covers the basin

  • 27% Forest
  • 28% Cropland
  • 25% Pasture
  • 4% 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

Crna: what you find on the way

  • 5DamsKozjak Dam, Sv. Petka, St. Andrew Dam and 2 more
  • 4Weirs
  • 2Waterfalls
  • 2Ferry piers
  • 2Boat rentalsBoat Trips & Kayak Rental, Boat Trip Kenan
  • 1River beaches

From OpenStreetMap, within 2.0 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.

Cross-checked with our atlases

Crna 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.

  • 2lakes on its wayLakeyas
  • 10mountains at the sourcePeakyas

Lakes and reservoirs (2)

Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas

  1. Kozjak Lakekm 69 · 135 m deep13km²
  2. Lake Mladostkm 1460.5km²

Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗

Mountains at the source (10)

Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas

  1. Buševa Mountain7.7 km away · prominence 1,233 m1,788m
  2. Kruševo5.8 km away1,458m
  3. Staniḱ10 km away1,414m
  4. Rupčinja4.6 km away1,302m
  5. Krusjče10 km away1,043m
  6. Kamen11 km away988m
  7. Tumba5.3 km away741m
  8. Aramiska Chuka14 km away735m

2 more on PeakyasOpen Peakyas ↗

From space

The source and the mouth, seen from orbit

Crna: satellite view of the source
The source14 km across
Crna: satellite view of the mouth
The mouth19 km across

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

Crna in pictures

Izvori Crna Reka
Gocedelcevdh · Public domain
CrnaReka
Antonio Brsjacki · CC BY-SA 3.0
Поглед на Скочивирска Клисура (1)
Petrovskyz · CC BY-SA 4.0
Skica za zemjisteto na Crna Reka, predlog za brana, 1927
Unknown author Unknown author · Public domain

Tributaries

Where it flows, and what flows into it

Tributaries (10)

Also: Dragor, Sakoulevas, Žaba, Šemnica, Dunje River, Maloilinska Reka, Babinska Reka, Graeška Reka, Buturica, Raec River

Where these numbers come from

Name, length, placesWikidata (Q1140644) · CC0
Course, profile, basinRiverATLAS v1.0 (HydroATLAS, Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 — followed from the source to the mouth given by Wikidata
FlowWaterGAP (RiverATLAS), 1971–2000 · CC BY 4.0
Climate along the riverWorldClim (RiverATLAS), 1970–2000 · CC BY 4.0
Towns, bridges, damsWikidata · CC0; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0
Along the river© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL
ImagesEOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons
Our other atlasesLakeyas, Peakyas — 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.

beachesCoastyaFind your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit
lakesLakeyasEvery lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Coming soonVisit
mountainsPeakyasEvery summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit
waterfallsCascadyasEvery waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Coming soonVisit
islandsIslandyasEvery island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Coming soonVisit
riversRiveryasEvery river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.You are here
canyonsCanyonyasEvery canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Coming soonVisit