Skip to content
Waterfall season · Maine

When Maine Waterfalls Actually Flow

2 documented waterfalls in Maine, when each one actually runs, and what the river is doing right now where a gauge exists.

2
Falls documented
each with its agency cited
0
Read live
USGS gauges on the feeding rivers
Snowmelt
What drives them
the season follows the driver
None
In window today
check the live readings instead

Trail status, closures and safety rules belong to each falls' managing agency, named and linked on every page.

Falls by falls

The Maine falls, their windows, and their rivers

Each card carries the typical big-water window drawn from the falls' actual driver, and the latest USGS reading on its feeding river where a gauge exists. The full page for each falls explains the season, shows today against the USGS percentile band, and quotes the managing agency on access.

Moxie Falls

Snowmelt

One of New England's tallest single drops, on Moxie Stream near The Forks, managed as state land with a boardwalked trail and famously little bureaucracy.

Big water: Mid April through June
No gauge, climatology onlyFull season page →

Screw Auger Falls

Snowmelt

Grafton Notch's 23 foot corkscrew through glacially polished granite potholes, steps from Route 26 and at its loudest in the melt.

Big water: Mid April through June
No gauge, climatology onlyFull season page →

Live readings: USGS Water Services (National Water Information System). Instantaneous values and daily statistics services. U.S. Geological Survey data are works of the United States Government and are in the public domain.

Advertisement
The pattern

Why Maine falls peak when they do

Most of Maine's documented falls run on snowmelt, so they peak when the high country lets go and fade through the summer. The mix here is all 2, and none of them sits on an active USGS gauge, so these pages run on seasonal climatology and the managing agency’s own words.

The upper tier of Multnomah Falls pouring down a mossy basalt wall
Multnomah Falls up close. The Columbia Gorge wall seeps enough groundwater to keep its falls alive all year, but the difference between February thunder and September lace is still the whole show. “20190923-MountHood-CMR-0235 (48871760966)” — Forest Service, USDA — Public domain
Vernal Fall with a rainbow in its mist, photographed from the Mist Trail side
Vernal Fall wearing a rainbow. By late summer the wide spring curtain narrows to threads; the National Park Service photographs it in both moods, and a flow calendar needs both. “Rainbow in the mist of Vernal Falls in Yosemite National Park. NPS-Madelyn Carpenter (18497149938)” — NPS Natural Resources — Public domain
Common questions

Maine waterfall season FAQ

Tahquamenon Falls pouring a wide amber curtain over a sandstone ledge between green banks
Tahquamenon Falls running amber with bog tannin. Fifty thousand gallons a second at spring peak, and still one of the most reliable big falls east of the Mississippi the rest of the year. “2009-0618-TahquamenonFalls” by Bobak Ha'Eri, CC BY 3.0
Wider view

Beyond Maine

Other Northeast states with documented falls

Cumberland Falls dropping a full curtain with a rainbow standing in the mist at its base
Cumberland Falls, the Niagara of the South, throwing a daytime rainbow. On bright full moon nights the same mist carries a moonbow, one of the few reliably visible in the western hemisphere. “Cumberland Falls rainbow” by James St. John, CC BY 2.0
Advertisement

Windows are typical-year climatology from each falls' driver, not forecasts. Live readings and percentile bands are USGS data, public domain; where a page says a river is above or below typical, that comparison is ours and is labelled. Access and safety belong to each falls' managing agency, named on its page. National picture →