River
Platte River
500 km from source to mouth · United States.
United StatesFlows into Missouri River
In numbers
Length
500km
Average flow
200m³/s
Basin
241,000km²
Drop
553m
from 840 m to 287 m
Country
1
The journey
From source to mouth
500 km of river and 14 stops on the way: 8 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmSouth Platte Riverat 840 m
- 0 kmSouth Platte Rivertributary
- 4 kmNorth Platte Rivertributary
- 29 kmBrady383 people
- 46 kmGothenburg3,514 people
- 62 kmCozad3,863 people
- 83 kmLexington10,075 people
- 306 kmColumbus22,797 people
- 311 kmLoup Rivertributary
- 334 kmSchuyler6,171 people
- 381 kmFremont26,474 people
- 402 kmLake Clagus0.7 km²
- 417 kmElkhorn Rivertributary
- 431 kmSalt Creektributary
- 470 kmPlattsmouth6,462 people
- 500 kmMissouri Riverat 287 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
River in Nebraska, United States
At the mouth it carries 199 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 13 seconds. It drops from 840 m to 287 m, 1.1 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 241,000 km², about the size of GH. 7.6 million people live in it. Highest water: June; lowest: from January to February. It is heavily dammed: reservoirs can hold 225% of a year's flow.
Where to start
- FremontLargest city on its banks · 26,474 people
- Eppley Airfield (OMA)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 52 km from the cityCar hire at OMA airport (Omaha)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- On the water38 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- From May to SeptemberThe best months to visit
Platte River, month by month
Highest water: June
Lowest water: from January to February. Freezing months (average below −4 °C): January. Best months to visit: from May to September.
From about 600 m³/s in the lowest month to 3,200 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
Platte River: the basin in numbers
1,033,119 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 7.6millionpeople live in the basin
- 7/km²people per km²
- 1,125maverage altitude of the basin
- 437mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 6.4°Caverage air temperature
- 5%protected areas
- 0.8%covered by lakes
- 108km³held in reservoirs
What covers the basin
- 13% Forest
- 31% Cropland
- 51% Pasture
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
Platte River: what you find on the way
- 8WeirsKearney Diversion Dam and 7 more
- 1WaterfallsStone Creek Falls
- 33Boat rampsBoat Ramp, Boat Landing and 31 more
- 5MarinasMarina, Woodcliff Marina and 3 more
- 5River beachesYanney Beach, Fremont Beach, Jet Ski Beach and 2 more
From OpenStreetMap, within 3.0 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Platte 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
Lakes and reservoirs (1)
Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas
- Lake Claguskm 4280.7km²
Lakeyas 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
Platte River in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
It flows into
Missouri RiverUnited States3,726 km2,500 m³/sTributaries (6)
Also: South Platte River, Loup River, Elkhorn River, Salt Creek, Rock Creek
In the same basin
United States3,766 km12,700 m³/sOhio RiverUnited States1,579 km8,000 m³/sArkansas RiverUnited States2,364 km240 m³/sTennessee RiverUnited States1,049 km2,000 m³/sRed RiverUnited States2,189 km1,900 m³/sYellowstone RiverUnited States1,114 km390 m³/sCanadian RiverUnited States1,458 km200 m³/sIllinois RiverUnited States432 km660 m³/sAllegheny RiverUnited States523 km560 m³/sCumberland RiverUnited States1,107 km860 m³/sNearby
Rivers nearby
United States238 km210 m³/s239 km awayJames RiverUnited States1,143 km18 m³/s232 km awaySmoky Hill RiverUnited States925 km69 m³/s234 km awayNiobrara RiverUnited States915 km1,000 m³/s264 km awayDes Moines RiverUnited States845 km250 m³/s381 km awayNorth Platte RiverUnited States1,152 km38 m³/s401 km awayIowa RiverUnited States520 km280 m³/s406 km awayWhite RiverUnited States933 km990 m³/s417 km awayWhere these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q655754) · 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 | 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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