Mississippi Coast
Ocean Springs Water Temperature
Biloxi Bay, Davis Bayou, and an arts town with water on three sides.
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 77°F.
Updated Sunday, October 4 — sea-surface temperature modeled for Ocean Springs by Open-Meteo.
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.
Ocean Springs 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 | 54°F | 47–61°F | Cold |
| February | 58°F | 52–67°F | Cold |
| March | 65°F | 58–73°F | Bracing |
| April | 72°F | 67–81°F | Cool but comfortable |
| May | 81°F | 73–85°F | Warm |
| June | 86°F | 82–91°F | Very warm |
| July | 89°F | 88–91°F | Bath water |
| August | 90°F | 86–93°F | Bath water |
| September | 85°F | 80–89°F | Very warm |
| Octobernow | 77°F | 71–84°F | Warm |
| November | 69°F | 61–77°F | Cool but comfortable |
| December | 59°F | 53–64°F | Cold |
Warmest on average in August at 90°F; coolest in January at 54°F.
The water at Ocean Springs
Ocean Springs faces Biloxi Bay from the eastern side, and it is the rare coastal town where the galleries and the boat traffic get roughly equal billing. Davis Bayou and the marsh behind town make excellent flat-water paddling — protected, shallow, thick with wading birds — while the bay and the bridge pilings across it hold speckled trout, redfish, flounder and black drum. The front beach road puts walkers and cyclists on the water without anyone needing a boat. Fishing runs essentially year-round here because the Sound stays warm, though winter fish pull into the deeper bayou holes and summer afternoons belong to heat and thunderstorms.
Biloxi Bay & the Sound
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 Ocean Springs; 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 Ocean Springs right now?
- The water at Ocean Springs is currently about 84°F (29°C). The October average here is 77°F.
- Is the water warm enough to swim at Ocean Springs in October?
- October averages 77°F at Ocean Springs, 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 Ocean Springs?
- August is the warmest month on average at 90°F, and January the coolest at 54°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.