South Padre Island water temperature by month

Swimmable from March through December.

Month by month

Month Typical Feels
January 66° refreshing
February 64° brisk
March 71° refreshing
April 74° perfect
May 80° bath-warm
June 82° bath-warm
July 81° bath-warm
August 83° bath-warm
September 86° bath-warm
October 83° bath-warm
November 78° perfect
December 70° refreshing

The year at a glance

swimmable 50° 60° 70° 80° 90° 86° 64° JFMAMJJASOND January: typically 66° — refreshing February: typically 64° — brisk March: typically 71° — refreshing April: typically 74° — perfect May: typically 80° — bath-warm June: typically 82° — bath-warm July: typically 81° — bath-warm August: typically 83° — bath-warm September: typically 86° — bath-warm October: typically 83° — bath-warm November: typically 78° — perfect December: typically 70° — refreshing

The water right now

Typically about 83° in October — bath-warm.

from the Brazos Santiago Pass station, about 3 miles away

bath-warm

bath-warm 80° and up perfect 72–79° refreshing 65–71° brisk below 65° 83° typical for October

The clearest water on the Texas coast — far enough south of the river plumes to run green instead of brown, and swimmable ten months of the year.

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 Brazos Santiago Pass station sits in an inlet; surf-zone water can run a few degrees off this reading.

Reading from the Brazos Santiago Pass station, about 3 miles away.

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