The average flow is only about 3750 gallons (500 cu ft; 14,200 L) per second, sometimes decreasing to just a thin trickle in the dry season. The falls got their European name from Jimmy Angel, an American explorer who crashed his plane nearby on Auyán-Tepuí in 1937.

Angel Falls in Venezuela is the world's highest uninterrupted waterfall, with a height of 979 meters (3,212 feet), but the "amount" of water varies drastically by season. During the wet season (June to December), the volume is immense, creating a thundering roar that can be heard for miles; the Churún River swells, and the fall is a powerful, singular column of water. In contrast, during the dry season (January to May), the flow can decrease so significantly that the water evaporates or dissipates into a fine mist before it even reaches the bottom—a phenomenon that gave it the indigenous Pemon name "Kerepakupai Merú." Because the waterfall is fed by rainfall on the Auyán-tepui plateau rather than a glacier or a massive lake, its "discharge rate" is highly variable. There is no single "gallon" measurement for the falls, but at its peak, it moves thousands of cubic feet per second. For tourists, visiting in the "shoulder" months of July or November offers the best balance of seeing a high volume of water while ensuring the river levels are high enough for the motorized canoes to reach the base of the falls safely.