A theoretical analysis and an experimental investigation were carried out for predicting the critical heat flux (CHF) of convective boiling for a round saturated water jet impinging on the jet stagnation zone. The model of the maximum liquid subfilm thickness based on the Helmholtz instability is used to derive a semi-theoretical equation and the correlation factor was determined from the experimental data. Finally, a semi-theoretical correlation was proposed for predicting CHF of convective boiling for saturated water jet impinging on the jet stagnation zone.