Atlantic Sea Surface Temperatures and Anomalies

[SkeetoBite]

Sheesh. Incredible. I'll be looking for several climate records to fall this year and hoping for no new TC records.

[Ivanhater]

Way above the norm in the Northern Gulf..not good

[cycloneye]

Another graphic that shows how warm the GOM is.

[jinftl]

SST across the basin are remarkably and disturbingly warmer than they were this time last year:


SST on 6/4/10:





SST on 6/4/09:

[SFLcane]

[KWT]

Those SST's are just unreal there Ivanhater, the only area thats below average is the subtropics, everywhere else is above or well above average.

Yep, those N.Gulf anomalies are impressive, not surprising given its shelf waters and the pattern has been rather warm in the Gulf in the past month or so.

[frederic79]

Can you imagine what these will be like in mid-August?

[frederic79]

One more observation worth noting: Buoy 42040 in the northern gulf is reporting surface water temperatures near 88 degrees F this afternoon. Others are near 85. This is way ahead of schedule if posted readings are legit because this is actually higher than the average August SST shown for 42040.

[Ivanhater]

One more observation worth noting: One buoy in the northern gulf is reporting surface water temperatures near 88 degrees F this afternoon. Others are near 85. This is way ahead of schedule if posted readings are legit.

And we have been in a rainy, cloudy period. Now for the next couple of weeks we have a big ol high parked over us which will continue to bake the GOM

[JonathanBelles]

St. Petersburg hit 95°F today, quite possibly a record. It's one of the highest official temperatures that I have seen since I have been here. I'm sure this heat over the next day or two will heat up the GOM.

[Scorpion]

I was at St. Pete Beach yesterday... absolutely stifling outside. The water didn't feel much better, felt like a bathtub. Must have been near 90 degrees.

[Jinkers]

I was at St. Pete Beach yesterday... absolutely stifling outside. The water didn't feel much better, felt like a bathtub. Must have been near 90 degrees.

I was at Hollywood beach with my sister on Saturday, she was in town for a few days, and I could not believe how warm the water was, it was warmer than bath water..lol

[gatorcane]

Here is a graphic of the current SSTs around the FL peninsula from NWS Miami. As you can see, SSTs are in the mid 80s around the Southern peninsula, already. Extended forecast shows strong ridging building in to the north which will bring in deep easterly flow for the FL peninsula (as opposed to light SW to W flow that was present recently due to a large trough that setup over Eastern North America which allowed SSTs to really shoot through the roof recently).

[JonathanBelles]

Quite a few observations put the Tampa Bay and Clearwater/St. Pete Beach waters at 88 degrees and above. I saw one obs at 90.5 degrees. I don't expect to see this stay around with the increasing rain chances and rising humidity, but its getting close to the magical number for both sea breeze fronts to get started on a daily basis.

[Ivanhater]

This is ridiculous. Highest heat content observed this early.

[drezee]

On a side note, Buoy 42040 has recorded it's highest June SST in its recorded history 33.8C. It is the second highest SST is has ever recorded in any June or July. It once recorded 33.9 in August. The previous record was 33.6C. I suspect the next hourly reading will be its first time over 34C.

http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/data/climatic/42040.txt

Oh yeah....this is due South of Mobile..covered in oil...thanks BP!!

[SkeetoBite]

Just got back from 3 days out on the water from Sarasota up to and around the Tampa Bay areas. We found the average water temps to be 88.5F in all areas except one spot at 85F one mile into the gulf outside Tampa Bay.

[Bluefrog]

yeah ... thanks BP .... we are possibly going to be in big trouble this season

[jinftl]

Dr. Jeff Masters gave some incredible perspective on sst right now in his blog today:

"Climatology argues against development of 92L, since only one named storm has ever formed between Africa and the Lesser Antilles Islands in the month of June--Tropical Storm Ana of 1979. However, sea surface temperatures (SSTs) underneath 92L are an extremely high 28 - 30°C, which is warmer than the temperatures reached during the peak of hurricane season last year, in August - September.

In fact, with summer not even here, and three more months of heating remaining until we reach peak SSTs in the Atlantic, ocean temperatures across the entire Caribbean and waters between Africa and the Lesser Antilles are about the same as they were during the peak week for water temperatures in 2009 (mid-September.) While 92L will cross over a 1°C cooler patch of water on Monday, the storm will encounter very warm SSTs of 28-29°C again by Tuesday."
http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMa ... rynum=1505

[drezee]

On a side note, Buoy 42040 has recorded it's highest June SST in its recorded history 33.8C. It is the second highest SST is has ever recorded in any June or July. It once recorded 33.9 in August. The previous record was 33.6C. I suspect the next hourly reading will be its first time over 34C.

http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/data/climatic/42040.txt

Oh yeah....this is due South of Mobile..covered in oil...thanks BP!!

It hit 34.2F New record...welcome to a new age hurricane season...