PoolWindow

Pool season · Missouri

St. Louis Pool Season: the Year on One Bar

Last updated: July 25, 2026 · dates · water temp

One bar, one year, one St. Louis pool. The season bar below draws everything the model knows — opening window, prime season, closing window — against today's date, with the working details one click away on the opening and closing pages.

Courtyard swimming pool at dawn in a temperate climateSt. Louis, MO — 118 swim days a year
J F M A M J J A S O N D today (build date)

off-season opening window swim season closing window

Reading it takes ten seconds: 52 dots, one per week. Solid teal is St. Louis's swim season; the hollow teal run before it (April 4 to April 25) is when to open; the hollow amber run after is when to close, with October 23 as the deadline; gray is the covered season. Today's marker shows where you stand in that cycle right now.

The St. Louis pool calendar

April 11open by
October 23close by
11880°F+ days
81°Fwater peak

Opening — target April 11

Target April 11; the practical window runs April 4–April 25, and the 7-day mean crosses the 61°F threshold around April 25. Cold-water starts are the cheap ones.

Full opening guide

Closing — deadline October 23

Hold the cover until October 13, then winterize by October 23, a week ahead of the November 4 freeze normal. Late and cold beats early and warm.

Full closing guide

Where the water sits today

SEASONAL VIEW

Estimated unheated pool water temp (site model, ±5°F). The live estimate loads in your browser from Open-Meteo air temperatures; in a typical year St. Louis water runs about 33°F at its winter floor and 81°F at its summer peak.

40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 58 open 65 algae

Estimated water temperature by month

This is St. Louis's typical-year water curve: the same EWMA model as the live widget, run on the 1991–2020 normals instead of this week's weather.

20°30°40°50°60°70°80°90°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec65° algae zone58° swimmable startopen Apr 11close Oct 2381°F peak33°F floor
Site-model seasonal water estimates for an unheated in-ground pool near St Louis Sci Center — ±5°F, see methodology.
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
34°34°43°53°64°73°80°80°76°66°53°42°

Warmest water typically July–August (peaking near 81°F); heaters and covers shift any month up.

Every station tells its own story: compare this curve with Springfield's pool season and Columbia's — neighboring normals stations can shift the windows by a week or more. The full ranking lives on the Missouri season index.

St. Louis pool season FAQ

When should I open my pool in St. Louis, MO?

Open by April 11 — the model places St. Louis's 61°F crossing about two weeks later, and every warm day you wait pushes the water toward the 65°F algae zone. The St. Louis opening guide has the 12-step sequence.

When should I close my pool in St. Louis?

Close by October 23: cool water keeps its winter chemistry, but freeze damage is the hard stop. The St. Louis closing guide sequences the work backward from that date.

How long is the swim season in St. Louis?

St. Louis averages 118 days a year with normal highs of 80°F or better — about 7 days earlier than the Missouri median. The Missouri season index ranks all 8 covered cities by the same metric.

How warm does pool water get in St. Louis?

An unheated pool near St. Louis typically peaks around 81°F in high summer and bottoms out near 33°F in winter, spending roughly 2 months at or above the 78°F comfort line most swimmers prefer. The month-by-month curve above shows the whole cycle; the methodology page explains the ±5°F error bars.

Data: NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals via St Louis Sci Center (1.4 mi); live outlook by Open-Meteo. Attribution: sources · assumptions: methodology.