Frying Pan Shoals Buoy (41013) Water Temperature Climatology

Water Temperature Climatology, Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina

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Latest Water Temp

72°

The Frying Pan Shoals Buoy is a NOAA weather buoy moored in the Atlantic Ocean southeast of Cape Fear, NC. The buoy floats in 77 feet of water at a position 31 miles southeast of Bald Head Island, NC, or about 68 miles east of Myrtle Beach, SC. This is typically 30-50 miles from the western wall of the Gulf Stream current, however warm eddies can occasionally break off the main flow of the Gulf Stream producing water temperatures in the 70s in mid-winter. The buoy is located approximately 10 miles west-southwest of Frying Pan Tower, formerly a Coast Guard light station which was equipped with a NOAA weather station designated FPSN7. The buoy and tower take their name from Frying Pan Shoals, a treacherous region of shallow water extending southeastward from Bald Head Island for 30 or more miles from shore. Numerous shipwrecks dating back into the 1800s still rest on the sea floor here.

Average Water Temperatures for the Frying Pan Shoals Buoy

January			February			March			April			May			June
1-10	11-20	21-31	1-10	11-20	21-29	1-10	11-20	21-31	1-10	11-20	21-30	1-10	11-20	21-31	1-10	11-20	21-30
66	64	63	62	61	63	62	63	64	65	67	70	71	73	75	78	80	81

July			August			September			October			November			December
1-10	11-20	21-31	1-10	11-20	21-31	1-10	11-20	21-30	1-10	11-20	21-31	1-10	11-20	21-30	1-10	11-20	21-31
81	82	82	83	83	83	82	81	81	80	78	75	74	72	71	70	68	67

Average values are given for early (1st-10th), mid (11th-20th), and late (21st-31st) each month.

Detailed Water Temperature Statistics for the Frying Pan Shoals Buoy

Box and Whisker statistical plot. Colored boxes indicate the 25th through 75th percentiles, with the red/blue center of each box indicating the mean (average) value. The black whiskers indicate the highest and lowest temperatures ever observed during each roughly 10 day time period throughout the year.

Statistical table of water temperature data. In addition to mean, highest and lowest values for each time period, various percentiles are displayed.

		Jan			Feb			Mar			Apr			May			Jun
	1-10	11-20	21-31	1-10	11-20	21-29	1-10	11-20	21-31	1-10	11-20	21-30	1-10	11-20	21-31	1-10	11-20	21-30
Highest	75.9	74.1	71.2	72.0	70.5	72.5	71.6	71.8	77.0	73.8	76.8	76.3	76.6	78.4	82.8	83.5	88.2	86.2
Upper 0.1%	75.7	73.9	70.9	71.6	70.0	72.5	71.4	71.2	76.6	73.6	76.6	75.9	76.3	78.4	82.0	82.6	87.6	85.8
Upper 1%	74.8	73.2	70.5	70.5	69.1	72.1	70.0	70.3	75.4	72.7	73.9	74.8	75.2	77.5	79.9	81.7	84.7	84.7
Upper 5%	72.6	71.2	69.1	68.5	67.6	70.5	68.0	69.1	72.7	70.5	72.9	73.9	74.1	76.3	78.1	80.4	82.9	83.8
Upper 10%	71.4	69.6	68.2	67.3	66.2	69.4	66.9	68.0	71.2	69.7	72.0	72.5	73.8	75.6	77.5	80.1	82.2	83.1
Upper 25%	69.8	67.3	66.4	64.9	64.2	66.2	64.9	66.2	67.1	68.2	70.0	71.1	72.5	74.7	76.5	79.0	81.0	82.0
MEAN	65.7	64.0	62.6	62.1	61.3	63.1	61.6	63.4	64.5	65.3	67.4	69.5	71.3	73.3	75.1	77.5	79.6	80.7
Lower 25%	63.0	61.0	59.2	60.3	58.8	60.3	58.8	60.6	61.5	63.3	64.8	68.0	70.2	72.3	73.8	76.1	78.3	79.5
Lower 10%	59.5	57.7	55.9	56.3	56.5	57.4	54.1	57.4	57.6	59.0	63.5	65.8	68.7	70.0	72.7	75.2	76.6	78.3
Lower 5%	56.3	55.8	54.1	52.9	55.0	55.9	52.3	55.9	56.7	57.4	62.6	64.9	68.0	69.1	72.1	74.8	76.1	77.7
Lower 1%	52.0	51.3	52.3	49.8	50.2	53.6	50.9	53.8	55.4	56.5	60.4	63.9	67.3	68.4	70.5	73.9	75.4	77.0
Lower 0.1%	50.4	50.5	50.5	49.1	49.1	52.7	49.7	53.1	54.7	55.9	60.1	63.3	66.4	68.0	70.2	73.4	75.0	74.5
Lowest	50.2	50.2	50.2	49.1	48.9	51.8	49.5	52.7	54.5	55.8	59.4	63.3	66.2	68.0	70.0	73.2	74.8	74.1

		Jul			Aug			Sep			Oct			Nov			Dec		ANN
	1-10	11-20	21-31	1-10	11-20	21-31	1-10	11-20	21-30	1-10	11-20	21-31	1-10	11-20	21-30	1-10	11-20	21-31
Highest	85.8	88.3	87.8	87.4	90.1	90.5	85.8	87.1	86.2	84.2	82.0	80.6	81.0	78.8	77.4	77.9	76.6	76.3	90.5
Upper 0.1%	85.8	87.4	87.4	86.9	89.2	88.0	85.6	85.5	86.0	84.0	82.0	80.6	80.4	78.3	76.7	77.3	76.5	76.3	86.5
Upper 1%	85.3	85.8	86.2	86.0	87.2	86.2	84.9	84.6	84.4	83.5	81.3	79.7	79.9	77.9	75.9	76.6	75.6	75.7	85.1
Upper 5%	84.2	84.6	85.1	85.1	85.6	85.5	84.2	83.3	83.3	82.0	80.8	79.0	79.0	76.8	75.2	75.9	73.6	74.3	83.7
Upper 10%	83.5	84.0	84.6	84.7	85.3	84.7	83.8	82.8	82.6	81.7	80.2	78.3	78.1	76.1	74.7	75.0	72.1	72.7	82.6
Upper 25%	82.4	83.1	83.5	84.0	84.4	84.2	82.8	82.0	82.0	81.0	79.2	76.8	76.3	74.7	73.2	73.2	70.2	70.2	80.2
MEAN	81.3	82.2	82.5	82.8	83.0	83.0	82.0	81.3	80.8	79.5	77.7	75.2	73.9	72.3	71.2	70.4	67.9	67.4	72.8
Lower 25%	79.9	81.3	81.5	81.5	81.7	82.0	81.1	80.4	79.9	78.3	76.5	73.6	71.1	70.2	70.0	68.0	66.4	64.8	66.6
Lower 10%	79.0	80.6	81.0	81.0	80.2	81.1	80.2	79.7	78.8	77.0	75.6	72.7	70.0	67.8	66.6	65.5	63.1	62.4	61.9
Lower 5%	78.6	80.1	80.4	80.2	79.9	80.4	79.9	79.0	77.4	76.1	74.8	72.0	69.1	66.2	64.2	64.0	60.4	60.5	59.0
Lower 1%	77.9	79.3	79.7	79.7	79.0	79.9	79.7	78.3	76.1	75.7	73.6	70.2	67.8	64.9	62.1	61.5	52.4	53.9	54.1
Lower 0.1%	76.3	78.8	78.4	79.2	79.0	79.0	78.8	77.2	76.1	75.6	73.0	69.4	67.1	64.2	61.3	59.3	49.0	52.0	50.2
Lowest	74.8	78.8	78.4	79.0	78.3	78.6	78.8	77.0	76.1	75.6	72.9	69.1	66.4	64.2	61.2	58.8	48.7	51.6	48.7

After quality control, a total of 120,523 individual water temperature observations were available to calculate the values used in this climatology. Data was collected from the NOAA/NDBC weather buoy 41013 over the period 2003 through 2018. Current weather and wave data for this site is available here.

Page Author and Statistical Analysis: Tim Armstrong
Page Created: July 31, 2014
Last Updated: February 27, 2019