Gold Coast
Fort Lauderdale Water Temperature
Port Everglades, the New River, and a two-mile run to blue water.
Sea-surface temperature
Very warmHolding steady · last two weeks
That is right about average for this time of year, and holding steady over the last two weeks. The November average here is 82°F.
Updated Saturday, November 7 — sea-surface temperature modeled for Fort Lauderdale by Open-Meteo.
Out in the open Gulf, NOAA buoy VAKF1 — 25 miles offshore — is reading 81°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
| Date | Average |
|---|---|
| Oct 25 | 83.5°F |
| Oct 26 | 83.5°F |
| Oct 27 | 83.3°F |
| Oct 28 | 82.8°F |
| Oct 29 | 82.9°F |
| Oct 30 | 83.1°F |
| Oct 31 | 82.8°F |
| Nov 1 | 82.6°F |
| Nov 2 | 82.8°F |
| Nov 3 | 82.8°F |
| Nov 4 | 82.2°F |
| Nov 5 | 82.4°F |
| Nov 6 | 82.6°F |
| Nov 7 | 82.8°F |
Fort Lauderdale 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 | Range | Average |
|---|---|---|
JanJanuary Warm | 74–79°F | 76°F |
FebFebruary Warm | 74–80°F | 77°F |
MarMarch Warm | 74–80°F | 77°F |
AprApril Warm | 76–81°F | 79°F |
MayMay Very warm | 79–86°F | 82°F |
JunJune Very warm | 83–88°F | 85°F |
JulJuly Very warm | 85–89°F | 87°F |
AugAugust Bath water | 86–90°F | 88°F |
SepSeptember Very warm | 85–89°F | 87°F |
OctOctober Very warm | 82–87°F | 84°F |
NovNovembernow Very warm | 79–83°F | 82°F |
DecDecember Warm | 77–83°F | 79°F |
Warmest
88°FAugust
Coolest
76°FJanuary
Warmest on average in August at 88°F; coolest in January at 76°F.
The water at Fort Lauderdale
Fort Lauderdale's Port Everglades is a deep-water ship channel, and the drop-off outside it is so close that you can be in 500 feet of water two miles off the beach — sailfish, mahi, and wahoo on a short run, with a famous winter sailfish bite when a cold front pushes through. Inshore, the New River and the canal system hold snook, tarpon, and jacks right through downtown.
Port Everglades & the New River
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 Fort Lauderdale; 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 Fort Lauderdale right now?
- The water at Fort Lauderdale is currently about 83°F (28°C). The November average here is 82°F.
- Is the water warm enough to swim at Fort Lauderdale in November?
- November averages 82°F at Fort Lauderdale, which most people would call very warm. Bath-warm. Pleasant, though it stops being much relief from the heat of the day.
- When is the water warmest at Fort Lauderdale?
- August is the warmest month on average at 88°F, and January the coolest at 76°F. 12 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.