Pool season · North Carolina
Wilmington Pool Season: the Year on One Bar
Last updated: July 25, 2026 · dates · water temp
Wilmington's whole pool calendar, condensed: when the water warms, when it cools, and where today falls between those edges. Use the opening guide and closing guide for the step-by-step work; keep this page for the dates.
Wilmington, NC — 146 swim days a yearReading it takes ten seconds: 52 dots, one per week. Solid teal is Wilmington's swim season; the hollow teal run before it (March 17 to April 7) is when to open; the hollow amber run after is when to close, with November 8 as the deadline; gray is the covered season. Today's marker shows where you stand in that cycle right now.
The Wilmington pool calendar
Opening — target March 24
Target March 24; the practical window runs March 17–April 7, and the 7-day mean crosses the 61°F threshold around April 7. Cold-water starts are the cheap ones.
Closing — deadline November 8
The window opens October 29 once water leaves the algae zone; the model deadline is November 8, a week ahead of the November 20 freeze normal.
Estimated water temperature by month
This is Wilmington'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.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 48° | 48° | 52° | 60° | 68° | 75° | 81° | 81° | 78° | 71° | 60° | 52° |
Warmest water typically July–September (peaking near 81°F); heaters and covers shift any month up.
Every station tells its own story: compare this curve with Raleigh's pool season and Winston-Salem's — neighboring normals stations can shift the windows by a week or more. The full ranking lives on the North Carolina season index.
Wilmington pool season FAQ
When should I open my pool in Wilmington, NC?
Target March 24. That date backs off two weeks from the day Wilmington's 7-day mean temperature reaches 61°F, so you start up in cold, algae-resistant water. Work the full checklist in the Wilmington opening guide.
When should I close my pool in Wilmington?
The closing deadline is November 8 — late enough that the water has cooled out of the algae zone, early enough to beat Wilmington's first-freeze normal by about a week. See the Wilmington closing guide for the winterizing steps.
How long is the swim season in Wilmington?
Wilmington averages 146 days a year with normal highs of 80°F or better — about 11 days earlier than the North Carolina median. The North Carolina season index ranks all 17 covered cities by the same metric.
How warm does pool water get in Wilmington?
An unheated pool near Wilmington typically peaks around 81°F in high summer and bottoms out near 47°F in winter, spending roughly 3 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.
Email me when Wilmington hits the closing window
Data: NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals via Wilmington International Airport (4.0 mi); live outlook by Open-Meteo. Attribution: sources · assumptions: methodology.