Niagara Falls is undoubtedly the greatest waterfall that we have yet seen. It is also very glitzy and glamourous, and obviously the most famous and most visited waterfall in the world. Despite the crowds and expensive tourist atmosphere, we still feel Niagara Falls is absolutely magnificent, an incredible sight that words cannot describe, and worth any expense to go see.

Niagara Falls consists of three separate waterfalls, located where Niagara River splits around Goat Island and Luna Island, and plunges about 170 ft. (51.8 m): Horseshoe Falls is the largest and most spectacular. Ninety-eight percent of Horseshoe Falls is on the Canadian side of the border. American Falls and Bridal Veil Falls are on the American side of Goat Island, smaller in size but still spectacular. This page describes general information about Niagara Falls. Please see my separate pages below for more pictures and info about each of these three waterfalls.

There are hundreds, perhaps thousands, of waterfalls around the world that are higher than Niagara Falls. It is not the height, but the width and volume of water that makes Niagara so spectacular. American and Bridal Veil Falls are about 1060 ft. (323 m) across, and the Horseshoe Falls is about 2600 ft. (793 m) across in width (approx. 3660 ft. / 1116 m total width). The amount of water going over the falls is controlled by dams, and much of it is diverted for hydro-electric power. From Apr-Oct, 100,000 cubic ft. per second (2832 m3/sec) go over Niagara Falls during the day, and 50,000 cfs (1416 m3/sec) at night. From Nov-Mar, 50,000 cfs go over the falls at all times. If there was no water diverted for power, the average flow over Niagara Falls would be about 212,000 cfs (6003 m3/sec). There is a noticeable difference in the flow between the day and night. One wonders how much more awesome Niagara Falls would be if it could be seen at full force, which is no longer possible because of the water diversion. Scott Ensminger has an interesting solution to improve Niagara Falls, and we encourage you to read about it here.

Given that the water flowing over Niagara is fairly constant throughout the year, I have made a calculation and determined that 67,100 cfs is the average volume of water going over Niagara over the course of a year. This calculation is based on the fact that 100,000 cfs is going over the falls for 7 months of the year, for 14 hours of the day. I calculated this figure down to the second, so it is the most accurate number that you will find. As you can see from the table below, during peak flow, both Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe and Iguazu Falls in Brazil/Argentina are larger than Niagara. But if you consider average volume over the year (which is the proper measure in my opinion), Niagara Falls is larger than these two other famous waterfalls.

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