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Do waterfalls go up instead of down sometimes?

Do waterfalls sometimes go up instead of down?




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Do waterfalls go up instead of down sometimes?

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Sep 30, 2010
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starstarstarstarstar 		Yes, but...
by: World of Waterfalls

There are a couple of general instances that we've experienced where you could say waterfalls go up instead of down.

The first is when you have a cascade that then hits a dip before ramping up as it exits that dip. The momentum from that water causes it to be thrown up in the air as it's ejected from the dip. The instances that come to mind in this general case are Waterwheel Falls and LeConte Falls.

The second general case is when you have a vertical waterfall (often in freefall) under windy conditions where the wind is strong enough to blow the water droplets up before it seemingly disappears as mist. The lighter-flowing the waterfall, the more apparent this illusion. We're aware of the so-called "Upside Down Falls" somewhere west of the Pali Lookout as the trade winds blow through the wind channel by the Pali Lookout and force its ephemeral flow back up only to disappear as mist. However, both times we've visited that part O'ahu, the falls wasn't flowing. On the other hand, we saw the general action take place in the Lauterbrunnen Valley in Switzerland where it happened to Aegertenbach Falls and even with the heavier-flowing Staubbach Falls.

But even with all that said, realize that the net effect is that water will eventually succumb to gravity (whether you see it as a stream or it disappears as mist). The water droplets will land on the ground and eventually make its way to the ocean whether you visually see it or not.

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