Ocean temperatures are rising in Florida, threatening coral, contributing to humidity, and keeping the air from cooling at night.
According to the World Meteorological Organization, almost every day last week unofficially broke records for high temperatures. Japan reported that the global average temperature on Friday was half a degree (F) warmer than its past record hottest day, which was in August 2016. And global sea surface temperatures in the Atlantic ocean have been “off-the-charts hot” since March.
This week, ocean temperatures on Florida’s Atlantic coast have been in the mid-90s, close to body temperature or bath water.
Water temperature near Johnson Key came close to 97 degrees on Monday evening, according to a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration buoy. Another buoy had a reading close to 95 near Vaca Key on Sunday. These are about 5 degrees warmer than normal this time of year, meteorologists said.
“That’s incredible,” said National Weather Service meteorologist Andrew Orrison. “The water is so warm you really can’t cool off.” The high ocean temperatures also mean increased humidity near the coast, which makes things harder for everyone. The air temperature isn’t unusually high, in the low 90s, but he high humidity means we perceive it as closer to 110, and sweat can’t evaporate into saturated air, leaving us without a way to cool our bodies.
While the 95- and 96-degree readings were in shallow waters, “the water temperatures are 90 to 93 degrees Fahrenheit around much of Florida, which is extremely warm,” said University of Miami hurricane researcher Brian McNoldy.
The hot water also threatens Florida’s coral reefs.
“There’s a good chance of heat stress accumulating very early in the season so we could be looking at nasty bleaching,” said International Coral Reef Society’s Mark Eakin, a retired top NOAA coral reef scientist. Bleaching weakens coral; it takes extended heat to kill it.
This is only early July. We still have August to come, always the hottest month in the Northern Hemisphere.