Sarasota Coast
Venice Water Temperature
The Venice Jetty, the pier, and shark-tooth beaches.
That is right about average for this time of year, and cooling over the last two weeks. The September average here is 86°F.
Updated Sunday, September 20 — sea-surface temperature modeled for Venice 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.
Venice 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 | 64°F | 58–69°F | Bracing |
| February | 68°F | 62–74°F | Cool but comfortable |
| March | 72°F | 67–77°F | Cool but comfortable |
| April | 77°F | 73–81°F | Warm |
| May | 83°F | 77–87°F | Very warm |
| June | 86°F | 82–88°F | Very warm |
| July | 89°F | 86–90°F | Bath water |
| August | 89°F | 85–92°F | Bath water |
| Septembernow | 86°F | 84–88°F | Very warm |
| October | 80°F | 76–86°F | Warm |
| November | 74°F | 69–79°F | Cool but comfortable |
| December | 68°F | 65–72°F | Cool but comfortable |
Warmest on average in July at 89°F; coolest in January at 64°F.
The water at Venice
Venice packs a lot into a short stretch: the north jetty at the mouth of the ICW is a snook, redfish, and flounder magnet, the Venice Pier reaches into mackerel and pompano water, and nearshore hard bottom holds grouper and snapper. It's also the self-styled 'Shark Tooth Capital,' so the beaches draw fossil hunters between casts. The jetty current concentrates fish tightly.
Venice Inlet & 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 Venice; 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 Venice right now?
- The water at Venice is currently about 87°F (31°C). The September average here is 86°F.
- Is the water warm enough to swim at Venice in September?
- September averages 86°F at Venice, 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 Venice?
- July is the warmest month on average at 89°F, and January the coolest at 64°F. 7 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.