Proposals to use technology to cool sea surface temperatures have received attention for the potential application of weakening a tropical cyclone ahead of landfall. First, application of an ocean-mixing aware maximum potential intensity theory finds that artificial ocean cooling could drastically weaken tropical cyclones over high sea surface temperature, deep mixed layer environments, especially for fast translation speeds. In contrast, realistic mesoscale numerical simulations reveal that massive regions of artificial cooling could weaken a TC two days before landfall by 15% but only under the most ideal atmospheric and oceanic conditions. Thus, the fundamental theory provides an unreachable upper-bound that is only attainable via unlimited resources. Capital would likely be better spent on endeavors such as improved forecasting and near-shore infrastructure.