Texas Gulf Coast
Freeport · Surfside Water Temperature
Surfside jetties, the Brazos river mouth, and the grass beds of Christmas Bay.
That is about 6°F warmer than average for this time of year, and holding steady over the last two weeks. The October average here is 80°F.
Updated Friday, October 2 — sea-surface temperature modeled for Freeport · Surfside by Open-Meteo.
Out in the open Gulf, NOAA buoy 42035 — 58 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.
Freeport · Surfside 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 | 58°F | 51–66°F | Cold |
| February | 60°F | 56–67°F | Bracing |
| March | 67°F | 60–73°F | Bracing |
| April | 74°F | 70–79°F | Cool but comfortable |
| May | 80°F | 74–86°F | Warm |
| June | 86°F | 83–88°F | Very warm |
| July | 88°F | 85–89°F | Bath water |
| August | 89°F | 87–91°F | Bath water |
| September | 86°F | 81–89°F | Very warm |
| Octobernow | 80°F | 74–85°F | Warm |
| November | 73°F | 64–79°F | Cool but comfortable |
| December | 64°F | 57–69°F | Bracing |
Warmest on average in August at 89°F; coolest in January at 58°F.
The water at Freeport · Surfside
Two rivers and a deep ship channel meet the Gulf within a few miles of each other at Freeport, and that mix is why the fishing holds up here. The jetties off Surfside stack trout, redfish, and bull drum on moving water, the Brazos and San Bernard river mouths color the nearshore Gulf after rain, and Christmas Bay up the coast holds some of the last real seagrass on the upper Texas coast. Surfside Beach itself draws surfers and beach campers all summer, and the surf fishing there is the standby when a light southeast wind flattens the swell. Nearshore rigs and wrecks within a short run give up kingfish and Spanish mackerel through the warm months.
the Brazos mouth, jetties & surf
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 Freeport · Surfside; 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 Freeport · Surfside right now?
- The water at Freeport · Surfside is currently about 86°F (30°C). The October average here is 80°F.
- Is the water warm enough to swim at Freeport · Surfside in October?
- October averages 80°F at Freeport · Surfside, 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 Freeport · Surfside?
- August is the warmest month on average at 89°F, and January the coolest at 58°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.