PoolWindow

Pool season · Texas

Harlingen Pool Season: the Year on One Bar

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

This is the one-page view of Harlingen's pool year: both model windows, the estimated water-temperature curve, and today's live position on the season bar. The detailed checklists live on the opening and closing guides; this page is the calendar you check between them.

Palm-lined pool deck in a warm year-round swim climateHarlingen, TX — 249 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 Harlingen's swim season; the hollow teal run before it (January 1 to January 15) is when to open; the hollow amber run after is when to close, with December 27 as the deadline; gray is the covered season. Today's marker shows where you stand in that cycle right now.

The Harlingen pool calendar

January 1open by
December 27close by
24980°F+ days
88°Fwater peak

Opening — target January 1

Target January 1; the practical window runs January 1–January 15, and the 7-day mean crosses the 61°F threshold around January 15. Cold-water starts are the cheap ones.

Full opening guide

Closing — deadline December 27

The window opens December 29 once water leaves the algae zone; the model deadline is December 27, a week ahead of the January 3 freeze normal.

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 Harlingen water runs about 61°F at its winter floor and 88°F at its summer peak.

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

Estimated water temperature by month

Monthly averages of the site's water model run on Harlingen's own normals — the shape of a typical year, not a forecast. The widget above shows where the current year actually sits.

50°60°70°80°90°100°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec65° algae zone58° swimmable startopen Jan 1close Dec 2788°F peak61°F floor
Site-model seasonal water estimates for an unheated in-ground pool near Harlingen — ±5°F, see methodology.
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
61°63°68°74°79°84°86°87°86°81°73°66°

Warmest water typically May–October (peaking near 88°F); heaters and covers shift any month up.

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

Harlingen pool season FAQ

When should I open my pool in Harlingen, TX?

Open by January 1 — the model places Harlingen's 61°F crossing about two weeks later, and every warm day you wait pushes the water toward the 65°F algae zone. The Harlingen opening guide has the 12-step sequence.

When should I close my pool in Harlingen?

Close by December 27: cool water keeps its winter chemistry, but freeze damage is the hard stop. The Harlingen closing guide sequences the work backward from that date.

How long is the swim season in Harlingen?

Harlingen averages 249 days a year with normal highs of 80°F or better — about 66 days earlier than the Texas median. The Texas season index ranks all 68 covered cities by the same metric.

How warm does pool water get in Harlingen?

An unheated pool near Harlingen typically peaks around 88°F in high summer and bottoms out near 61°F in winter, spending roughly 6 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 Harlingen (1.7 mi); live outlook by Open-Meteo. Attribution: sources · assumptions: methodology.