East London Sea Temperature

Looking to find out what the sea water temperature in East London is for today and the next few days? Below are data and charts that will give you information about sea temperatures in East London and nearby locations.

Water temperature in East London right now

Below is the current sea temperature for East London, South Africa on January 10, 2026.

Today

Yesterday

A week ago

Water at this temperature is very pleasant to swim in and if you tend to wear a wetsuit when swimming, you might consider removing it now to avoid the body overheating.

The average sea temperature for East London on January 10 over the last 10 years is 23.74° C (74.73° F), with a low temperature of 21.89° C (71.4° F) and a high of 25.52° C (77.94° F).

Analysis and forecast for East London water temperatures

The water temperature in East London today is the same as the average temperature of 23.74° C (74.73° F) and the temperature on this day last year was 23.74° C (74.73° F).

The chart and table below shows the change in water temperature in East London over the last 30 days:

DateTemperature (Celsius)Temperature (Fahrenheit)
January 1023.74° C74.73° F
January 923.81° C74.86° F
January 824.16° C75.48° F
January 723.77° C74.78° F
January 623.47° C74.25° F
January 523.42° C74.16° F
January 423.26° C73.86° F
January 323° C73.41° F
January 223.05° C73.49° F
January 122.98° C73.37° F
December 3123.13° C73.64° F
December 3023.02° C73.44° F
December 2923.05° C73.49° F
December 2823.16° C73.7° F
December 2723.26° C73.87° F
December 2623.13° C73.64° F
December 2523.06° C73.51° F
December 2423.12° C73.61° F
December 2323.26° C73.87° F
December 2223.26° C73.86° F
December 2123.26° C73.86° F
December 2023.19° C73.75° F
December 1922.95° C73.3° F
December 1823.05° C73.49° F
December 1723.24° C73.84° F
December 1623.15° C73.67° F
December 1523.06° C73.5° F
December 1422.8° C73.04° F
December 1322.67° C72.81° F
December 1222.79° C73.03° F

The actual nearshore temperatures may vary by several degrees and this can also be heavily affected by weather. Strong winds can cause cold, deep waters to replace the surface waters that had been warmed by the sun, and heavy rain can also reduce the temperature of the sea surface temperature as well.

Water temperature in East London by month

The chart below shows the monthly average water temperature in East London.

For more detailed information on how the sea temperature in East London changes for each month of the year, choose from the months below.

East London map and nearby water temperatures

East London sea temperature map

Why measure sea surface temperatures (SST) in East London?

The ocean covers about 71% of the Earth's surface, and scientists record the sea surface temperature (SST) of locations such as East London because they want to understand and learn how the ocean communicates with the atmosphere of Earth.

SST is one measure that provides information on the global climate, and it can be used to predict the weather in East London as well as atmospheric model simulations and to study marine ecosystems in the area.

Data source and citation

Raw data for the calculations made to find the sea surface temperature in East London comes from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and their 1/4° daily Optimum Interpolation Sea Surface Temperature.

The water temperature data is constructed by combining observations from different platforms (satellites, ships, buoys, and Argo floats) on a regular global grid. A spatially complete sea surface temperature map is then built by interpolating to fill in gaps in the data.

If you'd like to use any of the information above in the format it is presented, please use the citation tool below.