Wrightsville Beach, NC Water Temperature Climatology

Water Temperature Climatology, Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina

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Latest Water Temp

55°

Wrightsville Beach is a 4.5 mile long barrier island located in New Hanover County, NC. From June through early October water temperatures are practically tropical making this beach perfect for swimming and surfing. The water cools significantly during the winter months due to cold offshore winds and longer nights. The other beaches of Pender and New Hanover counties should have very similar water temperatures including Fort Fisher, Kure Beach, Carolina Beach, Masonboro Island, Figure Eight Island, Topsail Island, and Surf City.

Average Water Temperatures for Wrightsville Beach, NC

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
54	53	52	52	52	53	54	56	57	60	63	66	68	71	75	78	79	80

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	83	82	80	78	75	72	68	65	62	60	58	56

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

Detailed Water Temperature Statistics for Wrightsville Beach, NC

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	66.9	60.8	57.6	57.2	59.7	63.0	61.5	65.8	68.0	68.0	73.2	73.8	76.1	78.3	82.9	83.1	85.8	85.6
Upper 0.1%	66.9	60.4	57.0	57.0	59.2	63.0	61.5	65.7	67.6	67.8	72.9	73.5	75.6	78.1	82.6	82.9	84.9	84.9
Upper 1%	65.8	59.5	56.1	56.8	57.9	61.7	60.4	64.0	66.4	67.3	70.7	72.5	74.1	76.5	81.0	82.2	83.8	83.8
Upper 5%	60.3	58.3	55.8	56.3	57.2	59.5	59.5	62.2	63.0	65.8	68.5	71.1	72.9	75.2	79.3	81.3	83.1	82.9
Upper 10%	59.2	57.4	55.2	55.8	56.3	57.6	58.8	60.8	62.1	64.4	66.9	70.3	72.1	74.5	78.1	80.6	82.4	82.6
Upper 25%	57.2	55.8	54.0	54.5	54.1	55.4	56.8	58.1	59.5	62.4	64.8	67.3	70.5	73.2	76.6	79.3	80.6	81.3
MEAN	54.1	52.8	51.6	52.0	51.7	53.0	54.0	56.2	57.4	60.3	63.3	65.7	68.1	71.2	74.8	77.9	79.5	80.2
Lower 25%	51.1	50.2	49.8	50.0	49.1	50.5	51.4	54.1	54.9	58.3	61.3	63.7	65.5	69.8	73.0	76.5	77.9	79.2
Lower 10%	46.8	46.0	48.0	47.8	47.5	49.5	49.5	52.2	53.6	56.7	59.9	62.2	63.9	67.1	71.4	75.4	77.0	77.9
Lower 5%	45.5	44.4	45.0	47.1	46.8	48.2	48.9	51.1	53.1	55.8	59.0	61.2	63.0	66.0	70.0	74.8	76.6	77.2
Lower 1%	43.9	43.3	43.5	46.6	45.9	47.1	47.8	50.0	52.2	54.3	56.7	59.4	62.2	64.9	68.7	74.1	75.4	76.5
Lower 0.1%	42.8	43.0	43.0	46.2	45.5	46.6	46.9	49.6	51.6	53.8	55.9	58.5	61.5	64.6	68.4	73.0	74.7	75.6
Lowest	42.6	43.0	42.8	45.9	45.0	46.2	46.8	49.5	51.3	53.6	55.9	58.3	61.0	64.4	68.4	73.0	74.5	75.6

		Jul			Aug			Sep			Oct			Nov			Dec		ANNUAL
	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	89.4	86.9	87.8	87.3	86.9	87.6	88.0	87.8	85.5	84.4	82.4	79.0	75.4	71.2	69.8	67.3	66.9	67.6	89.4
Upper 0.1%	89.1	86.7	87.4	86.7	86.7	87.3	87.8	87.6	85.3	84.2	82.4	78.6	75.4	71.1	69.3	66.7	66.7	67.3	87.3
Upper 1%	88.0	86.0	86.0	86.2	86.2	86.7	87.3	86.5	83.8	83.7	81.7	78.3	74.5	70.3	67.8	66.0	66.6	66.9	85.6
Upper 5%	85.5	85.1	85.1	85.3	85.5	85.8	86.0	84.7	83.1	82.4	79.5	77.0	73.0	68.9	66.7	64.9	64.8	64.9	84.0
Upper 10%	83.7	84.6	84.6	84.9	85.1	85.5	85.1	84.0	82.6	81.7	78.3	75.2	72.0	68.0	65.3	64.0	63.1	59.0	82.9
Upper 25%	82.2	83.5	83.7	83.8	84.2	84.7	84.2	82.9	81.3	79.3	77.0	73.2	70.7	65.7	64.0	62.1	59.0	57.9	79.9
MEAN	81.1	82.1	82.3	82.5	82.5	83.3	83.1	81.6	79.9	78.0	75.2	71.9	68.2	64.6	62.0	60.3	57.9	56.5	68.4
Lower 25%	79.7	80.8	81.1	81.3	81.0	82.0	82.0	80.1	78.6	76.5	73.4	70.3	65.8	63.3	59.5	58.6	56.7	55.4	57.6
Lower 10%	78.6	79.7	79.5	80.1	79.2	80.6	80.8	78.4	77.2	75.2	72.5	68.4	64.0	62.2	58.1	57.0	55.4	52.0	52.9
Lower 5%	78.1	79.0	78.4	79.0	78.4	79.7	79.7	78.1	76.6	74.5	71.8	67.1	63.3	60.6	57.6	55.8	50.5	48.0	50.2
Lower 1%	77.0	77.9	75.0	77.4	77.5	78.1	78.4	76.8	75.4	73.0	69.3	66.0	62.2	59.2	56.8	54.0	48.0	46.4	46.6
Lower 0.1%	75.7	77.5	74.1	76.5	77.2	76.6	77.5	75.7	73.9	72.7	68.0	64.8	61.5	58.8	56.5	52.7	47.1	46.0	43.7
Lowest	75.7	77.5	74.1	76.5	77.0	76.5	77.0	75.7	73.4	72.3	67.6	64.4	60.4	58.6	56.1	52.0	46.8	45.7	42.6

After quality control, a total of 1,045,991 individual water temperature observations were available to calculate the values used in this climatology. Data was collected from the NOAA/NOS weather and tide station on Johnnie Mercer Pier over the period 2004 through 2018. Current weather and tide data for this site is available here.

Page Author and Statistical Analysis: Tim Armstrong
Page Created: July 31, 2014
Last Updated: February 28, 2019