Padre Island National Seashore water temperature by month

Swimmable from April through November.

Month by month

Month Typical Feels
January 58° brisk
February 62° brisk
March 69° refreshing
April 75° perfect
May 83° bath-warm
June 86° bath-warm
July 87° bath-warm
August 88° bath-warm
September 86° bath-warm
October 80° bath-warm
November 72° perfect
December 65° refreshing

The year at a glance

swimmable 50° 60° 70° 80° 90° 100° 88° 58° JFMAMJJASOND January: typically 58° — brisk February: typically 62° — brisk March: typically 69° — refreshing April: typically 75° — perfect May: typically 83° — bath-warm June: typically 86° — bath-warm July: typically 87° — bath-warm August: typically 88° — bath-warm September: typically 86° — bath-warm October: typically 80° — bath-warm November: typically 72° — perfect December: typically 65° — refreshing

The water right now

Typically about 80° in October — bath-warm.

from the Packery Channel station, about 15 miles away

bath-warm

bath-warm 80° and up perfect 72–79° refreshing 65–71° brisk below 65° 80° typical for October

Seaweed season

On the Texas Gulf coast, sargassum season runs from April through July, heaviest from April through May.

Texas beaches get sargassum every year, but no month range is published for them specifically. The window here follows NOAA, which puts the Gulf's own sargassum peak in April and May, ahead of the summer arrivals from the Caribbean.

  1. January: rare
  2. February: rare
  3. March: rare
  4. April: peak season
  5. May: peak season
  6. June: some seaweed
  7. July: some seaweed
  8. August: rare
  9. September: rare
  10. October: rare
  11. November: rare
  12. December: rare

This is a pattern, not a forecast. The lab that watches this says plainly that predicting seaweed on an individual beach is difficult or impossible — whether it comes ashore depends on winds, tides and currents nobody can call ahead. The bulletins track how much is out there and look about a month on.

From the Sargassum Watch System, the Optical Oceanography Lab at the USF College of Marine Science. Read the current bulletin for this month's outlook.

Jellyfish season

What usually turns up on the Texas coast, and when.

  • Texas Parks and Wildlife says the Portuguese man-of-war floats in on the currents and washes up on Texas beaches during the spring to late summer. Texas Parks and Wildlife — jellyfish and their kin
  • Their advice is to read the sand before the water: walk the beach first and see whether any are washed up, which tells you they are about — and never step on one, because the stinging cells stay active after the animal dies. Texas Parks and Wildlife — jellyfish and their kin

This is what a season usually looks like, not a forecast of any particular week. Jellyfish drift on wind and current, so the people who watch them say there are tendencies but no guarantees — the lifeguard flags on the day beat any calendar.

About this reading

The Packery Channel station sits in an inlet; surf-zone water can run a few degrees off this reading.

Reading from the Packery Channel station, about 15 miles away.

Warm water says nothing about surf, rip currents, or bacteria — check local lifeguard flags and advisories.