Water · Atlantic (Lake Worth Pier)
Warm · typical for November (typical 77–81°F)
NOAA reading Sun 1 Nov, 5:00 PM
Water · Biscayne Bay (Virginia Key)
Warm · typical for November (typical 74–81°F)
NOAA reading Sun 1 Nov, 5:00 PM
By month
| Month | Atlantic avg | Atlantic typical | Bay avg | Bay typical | Feels |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 74.6°F | 72–77°F | 71.6°F | 67–76°F | brisk |
| February | 74.8°F | 72–77°F | 73.0°F | 68–78°F | brisk |
| March | 75.8°F | 73–78°F | 75.0°F | 70–80°F | refreshing |
| April | 78.0°F | 76–80°F | 78.3°F | 75–82°F | refreshing |
| May | 80.4°F | 78–82°F | 82.0°F | 79–85°F | warm |
| June | 82.8°F | 81–85°F | 85.2°F | 82–88°F | warm |
| July | 85.1°F | 83–87°F | 87.2°F | 85–89°F | bath-warm |
| August | 85.9°F | 84–87°F | 87.4°F | 85–90°F | bath-warm |
| September | 85.4°F | 84–87°F | 85.8°F | 83–89°F | bath-warm |
| October | 82.2°F | 79–85°F | 82.1°F | 78–86°F | warm |
| November | 79.1°F | 77–81°F | 77.3°F | 74–81°F | warm |
| December | 76.8°F | 75–79°F | 74.0°F | 69–78°F | refreshing |
Reading these numbers
Which is closer to the beach? Neither sensor sits in the surf at Miami Beach. Virginia Key (NOAA 8723214) is on the bay side, at the mouth of Biscayne Bay, so its shallow water swings further: in the averages above it runs about 3°F cooler than Lake Worth Pier in January and about 1.5°F warmer in August. Lake Worth Pier (8722670) stands in the open Atlantic about 90 km north. Our estimate for an ocean beach from Key Biscayne to Fort Lauderdale is somewhere between the two; NOAA has no sensor in the surf there. For the bay beaches (Matheson Hammock, Oleta, Homestead Bayfront), use Virginia Key.
"Feels" is our own plain-language scale, applied to the Atlantic average: under 70°F chilly for most swimmers, 70–74 brisk, 75–78 refreshing, 79–83 warm, 84 and up bath-warm.
Checked against NOAA's published averages. Our monthly means match the averages NOAA published in its Coastal Water Temperature Guide to within 0.3°F at both stations. See the comparison.