Near-bottom current and temperature data from a 154-day period in winter 1984--1985 are combined to investigate cross-shelf heat fluxes along central Florida's Atlantic coast between 27¿ and 30¿N. Temperature and current time series recorded at the shelf break exhibit considerable variability over time scales of the order of 1--2 weeks. Low-frequency temperature fluctuations, superimposed onto a seasonal cooling of approximately 0.4¿C/week, decrease from south to north. Cross-shelf motion results in little net displacement at latitudes 27¿ and 30¿N but results in considerable net shoreward displacement at latitude 28¿N. Cross-shelf heat flux is shoreward at all study sites, but values decrease approximately linearly from south to north. The study shows that a shoreward flux of relatively cool water can continue through winter months in the vicinity of Cape Canaveral. Compared with summer upwelling in the same area, the characteristic time scale is considerably shorter because the heat flux appears to be related to frontal eddies embedded in the cyclonic shear zone of the Florida Current rather than to seasonal variations in volume transport combined with a westward shift of the axis of the Florida Current. ¿American Geophysical Union 1987