Bondi Beach water temperature, month by month

"How cold is the water?" is the question I field most before someone's first Bondi swim. Short answer: the sea peaks near 23–24°C in February and bottoms out around 17–18°C in late winter, so there's no month you genuinely can't get in - only months you'll want a wetsuit for. Here's how it moves through the year, and why the water rarely does what the calendar suggests.

Warmest

February (~23–24°C)

Coldest

August–September (~17–18°C)

Wetsuit weather

Roughly May–September

Today's temp

See our daily beach conditions

Bondi sea temperature, month by month

• January - around 23°C. Peak summer swimming; warm and inviting.
• February - around 23–24°C. Usually the warmest water of the year.
• March - around 23°C. Still lovely, easing off as autumn nears.
• April - around 21–22°C. Pleasant for most, cooler than the summer peak.
• May - around 20°C. The cool-down begins; many switch to a wetsuit.
• June - around 18–19°C. Winter setting in; better for surfers and hardy swimmers.
• July - around 18°C. Properly cold; wetsuit recommended for anything longer than a dip.
• August - around 17–18°C. Among the coldest of the year, lagging the winter air.
• September - around 18°C. Often the year's low point before it turns the corner.
• October - around 19°C. Noticeably warmer; the regulars start coming back.
• November - around 20–21°C. Building toward summer; increasingly comfortable.
• December - around 22°C. Warm again - one of the best months to be in the water.

Treat these as long-term monthly averages, not promises. On any given day the reading can swing a couple of degrees with the wind, swell and tide, so for what the water's actually doing right now, check our live Bondi weather and surf conditions. If you want the official measurement rather than an estimate, the NSW Government's Manly Hydraulics Laboratory publishes recorded ocean water temperatures for the Sydney coast at mhl.nsw.gov.au.

The Icebergs test

If you want a free preview of the sea temperature, look at Bondi Icebergs at the south end of the beach. The 50-metre ocean pool is filled by the waves washing over its edge, so it sits within a degree of the open water - these monthly figures are a fair guide to the pool too. It's also home to a winter swimming club founded in 1929, whose members famously drop blocks of ice into the pool on the first Sunday of May to open the season. If they can do it at 17°C, you can manage a summer dip.