What river flows north in the United States?

The St. Johns — one of the few rivers in the United States that flows north — is one of the laziest rivers in the world. From its source in the marshes south of Melbourne to its mouth in Mayport, the river drops a total of less than 30 feet — or about one inch per mile.



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In the US, at least 48 rivers in 16 states flow north, including nine in Alaska and eight in Washington. According to some sources, South America has the highest number of northward-flowing rivers.

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A more precise total should consist of thousands of rivers. It is safe to say that over 250 major rivers in the world actually flow north.

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Nile River, Arabic Ba?r Al-Nil or Nahr Al-Nil, the longest river in the world, called the father of African rivers. It rises south of the Equator and flows northward through northeastern Africa to drain into the Mediterranean Sea.

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The Chicago River Actually Flows Backwards.

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There is absolutely nothing weird about a river flowing north. Rivers flow in one direction all over the world, and that direction is downhill. Across the central and eastern United States, it is rare for rivers to flow north because the slope of the land is toward the south and east.

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Why the Tonle Sap River Is Unlike Any Other River in the World. In this week's Maphead column, Ken Jennings explains how one river in Cambodia ends up changing direction a few times every year.

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Women and Children on the Banks of the Nile. Even today, families come to the banks of the Nile River to gather water for their day, against the backdrop of ancient Egyptian ruins. The Nile River flows from south to north through eastern Africa.

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Water flows in the path of least resistance – there are rivers and tributaries all over the world that flow east, west, north, and south. The St. Johns flows north because its headwaters are a mere 27 feet higher in elevation than where it ends – dropping approximately one inch per mile over the course of 310 miles.

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It always does — right? But under Antarctica's ice, water can sometimes run uphill. Under the right conditions, a whole river can spurt from one lake uphill to another lake. That's because the ice weighs so much that it presses down on the water with thousands of pounds of pressure per square inch.

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Water always flows down to the sea, and the land slopes downward through the Great Lakes Basin from west to east, but the Niagara River actually flows north. Today, less than one percent of the water of the Great Lakes is renewable on an annual basis (precipitation and groundwater).

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Florida is the only state that has two rivers that have the same name. There is a Withlacoochee River in Madison County and a Withlacoochee River located in central Florida.

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The sewage and pollutants in the water made Chicago residents susceptible to disease, especially cholera and typhoid fever. Chicago's solution to the problem was to reverse the flow of the Chicago River and build a canal connecting the south branch of the river to the Des Plaines River.

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Do rivers flow upstream or downstream? Usually, rivers flow downstream, but there are some that don't. This can happen when rivers flow south to north due to the source of the river being higher up in the South. One famous river that has this type of flow is the Nile River in Africa.

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