Louisiana Coast
Cameron Water Temperature
Calcasieu Pass, the jetties, and the mouth of a lake known for heavy trout.
That is about 7°F warmer than average for this time of year, and cooling over the last two weeks. The October average here is 78°F.
Updated Saturday, October 3 — sea-surface temperature modeled for Cameron by Open-Meteo.
Out in the open Gulf, NOAA buoy 42035 — 76 miles offshore — is reading 86°F. Deep water offshore runs cooler than the shallows in summer and warmer in winter, so it won't match the beach.
For swimming
Very warm
Bath-warm. Pleasant, though it stops being much relief from the heat of the day.
For fishing
Hot — fish the edges of the day
Early and late is the play. Through the middle of the day fish drop into deeper channels and passes where there's moving water and more oxygen.
The last two weeks
Daily average sea-surface temperature, °F.
Cameron water temperature by month
Averaged from 3 years of daily sea-surface temperature (2023–2025). The range column is the coolest and warmest daily average recorded in that month over the period — a guide to how much any given year can differ, not a record high and low.
| Month | Average | Range | Swimming |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 56°F | 48–63°F | Cold |
| February | 60°F | 54–67°F | Bracing |
| March | 67°F | 60–73°F | Bracing |
| April | 73°F | 69–79°F | Cool but comfortable |
| May | 80°F | 73–85°F | Warm |
| June | 86°F | 83–89°F | Very warm |
| July | 88°F | 85–90°F | Bath water |
| August | 89°F | 85–91°F | Bath water |
| September | 85°F | 80–89°F | Very warm |
| Octobernow | 78°F | 72–85°F | Warm |
| November | 71°F | 62–79°F | Cool but comfortable |
| December | 61°F | 55–66°F | Bracing |
Warmest on average in August at 89°F; coolest in January at 56°F.
The water at Cameron
Cameron sits at Calcasieu Pass, where Calcasieu Lake — Big Lake to anyone who fishes it — drains to the Gulf between jetties. That geography is the reason this stretch of southwest Louisiana is known for oversized speckled trout: the lake is shallow and full of oyster reef, it connects to the Gulf through one hard-running pass, and fish shuttle through with the seasons. Redfish work the marsh drains and shorelines on both sides, black drum and flounder use the pass and the channel edges, and the surrounding refuge marsh fills with wintering waterfowl and wading birds. Cameron Parish is flat, open and exposed, and weather here arrives with nothing in its way.
Calcasieu Pass & the Gulf
What moves the water temperature here
The Gulf shelf off this coast is shallow, which is why the water swings so much more between summer and winter than open ocean at the same latitude does. Shallow water heats fast and gives that heat up fast: a single strong winter cold front can pull the inshore bays several degrees down in a couple of days, while the beaches a mile offshore barely move. Wind direction matters too — a sustained offshore breeze can pull cooler water up from below and drop the beach temperature noticeably in a morning.
Inshore bays, canals and flats run warmer than the beach through the summer and colder through the winter, for the same reason. The reading above is for the open water at Cameron; expect the back bays to be a few degrees either side of it depending on the season.
Common questions
- What is the water temperature at Cameron right now?
- The water at Cameron is currently about 85°F (30°C). The October average here is 78°F.
- Is the water warm enough to swim at Cameron in October?
- October averages 78°F at Cameron, which most people would call warm. About as good as it gets — warm enough to stay in for hours without getting chilled.
- When is the water warmest at Cameron?
- August is the warmest month on average at 89°F, and January the coolest at 56°F. 6 months of the year average 75°F or above.
- Why does the water temperature change so quickly here?
- The Gulf shelf off this coast is shallow, so it heats and cools far faster than deep open ocean. A strong winter cold front can pull the inshore water down several degrees in a couple of days, and a sustained offshore wind can drop beach temperatures in a single morning by pulling cooler water up from below.