What counts as the world's shortest river?

If you've been a subscriber for a while, you probably know where this one is going. Although you may still be surprised about where I ended up going...

Montana's Giant Springs State Park, and Lake Sumiainen in Finland, have very short rivers. Finding the shortest in the world, though: that could be trickier.

Sources:

Here's the co-ordinates of the Finnish river: 62.6497 N, 26.0484E

(you can find contact details and social links there too)

[TomScottGo]

While I do like the gag of going to Finland for one fifteen-second bit of a video, that'd be a horrifically wasteful joke, and I should be clear: I've been piecing this video together for a while now, when I happened to be in the right places!

[CowmanCowman]

Legend has it, there is a clone of Tom in every country to record videos

[Marconius]

I like to imagine Tom's face when someone said "wouldn't that apply to a water slide?"

[quintendhaenens]

Plato: "A river starts at a source, flows somewhere in a consistent direction and ends in a bigger bit of water"
Diogenes bursting in holding a waterslide: "BEHOLD! A RIVER!"

[SirPrizeMF]

'"is it a river" is not always a question that can answered with a binary 'yes' or 'no'. "

So would you say, the definition of rivers is... fluid?

[justusfire]

Im impressed by how clear the water is. Breathtaking (especially when drowning)

[oscyk]

The ACTUAL shortest river in the world is the River Batlow in North Yorkshire, England at 3ft long. This groundbreaking research was made by Sir Gary Brannan.

[johndoe]

I love that I'm watching a 3 minute "thing" on YouTube and the creator has actually gone to the US and to Finland to create it.

[thmweng]

A quick trip to Finland for 30 second video of shortest river. Kind of worth it

[toanoradian]

Tom Scott 2015: "What Counts as a Word?"
Tom Scott 2017: "What Counts as a Mountain?"
Tom Scott 2019: "What Counts as The World's Shortest River"?
Tom Scott 2021: "What Counts as "Counting"?"
Tom Scott 2041: "What?"

[countcain]

I‘ll just quote my geomorphology professor here: Just because water is crystal clear doesn‘t mean there‘s no bacteria in it!

[ylisvauhdis]

I am so honored and proud that Finland was mentioned and shown for almost half a minute and that you travelled here just for that! TORILLA TAVATAAN!

[RB-]

"If it's large enough to drown in."


I declare my bathtub the shortest river in the world!

[carriageofnoreturn.]

Filiming in 'batches' when in the right place: suddenly the *always* wearing-a-red-t-shirt-thing makes perfect sense!

[hallamhal]

What about Batlow in Yorkshire? It's only three feet long!

[nailydud]

I, for one, welcome our new definition that classes water slides as rivers

[jackhenry]

Came for the shortest river, left with an existential crisis

[timelord]

Do you have a home or do you just live in hostels around the world constantly making videos? :P

[joedeshon]

Tom's mono-chromatic wardrobe bodes well for his continuity challenges while filming in half a dozen locations.

[GMMReviews]

Maybe the *REAL* Smallest River was the friends we made along the way?