River
White River
933 km from source to mouth · United States.
United StatesFlows into Missouri River
In numbers
Length
933km
Average flow
990m³/s
Basin
26,000km²
Drop
752m
from 1,160 m to 408 m
Country
1
The journey
From source to mouth
933 km of river and 4 stops on the way: 1 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmSourceat 1,160 m
- 118 kmAngostura Reservoir16 km²
- 646 kmLake Oahe1,093 km²
- 659 kmPierre14,091 people
- 820 kmLake Sharpe228 km²
- 933 kmMissouri Riverat 408 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
River in Nebraska and South Dakota, United States
At the mouth it carries 991 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 2.5 seconds. It drops from 1,160 m to 408 m, 0.8 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 26,000 km², about the size of RW. 1.3 million people live in it. Highest water: June; lowest: from November to February. It is heavily dammed: reservoirs can hold 309% of a year's flow.
Where to start
- PierreLargest city on its banks · 14,091 people
- Pierre Regional Airport (PIR)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 5 km from the cityCar hire at RAP airport (Rapid City)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- On the water28 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- From May to SeptemberThe best months to visit
White River, month by month
Highest water: June
Lowest water: from November to February. Freezing months (average below −4 °C): from December to February. Best months to visit: from May to September.
From about 340 m³/s in the lowest month to 2,300 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
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The basin
White River: the basin in numbers
632,618 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 1.3millionpeople live in the basin
- 2/km²people per km²
- 1,169maverage altitude of the basin
- 391mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 5.6°Caverage air temperature
- 6%protected areas
- 0.9%covered by lakes
- 96km³held in reservoirs
What covers the basin
- 16% Forest
- 24% Cropland
- 56% 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
White River: what you find on the way
- 27Boat ramps
From OpenStreetMap, within 2.9 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
White 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.
3lakes on its wayLakeyas
1mountain at the sourcePeakyas
Lakes and reservoirs (3)
Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas
- Angostura Reservoirkm 9216km²
- Lake Oahekm 507 · 62 m deep1,093km²
- Lake Sharpekm 644228km²
Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗
Mountains at the source (1)
Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas
- Pants Butte6.3 km away
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
White River in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
It flows into
Missouri RiverUnited States3,726 km2,500 m³/sTributaries (5)
Also: Wounded Knee Creek, Little White River, Black Pipe Creek, White Thunder Creek, Potato 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/sPlatte RiverUnited States500 km200 m³/sCanadian RiverUnited States1,458 km200 m³/sIllinois RiverUnited States432 km660 m³/sAllegheny RiverUnited States523 km560 m³/sWhere these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q2126786) · 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, 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.
beaches
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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