Atlantic ocean getting quite warm off east coast... (climate, global warming, temperatures)

[wavehunter007]

I thought weather –watchers and folks living along the Atlantic Seaboard of the USA from Florida to Rhode Island would find this an interesting side note (and maybe beach –bums too-lol)…

The Atlantic Ocean has warmed quite rapidly due to a slightly unusual position of the Bermuda High this year (north, but further east in the Atlantic Ocean). This position of the Bermuda High seems to increase the flow of warmer water out of the Gulf Stream and tropical Atlantic …and send it directly toward the East Coast of the USA from Florida to Rhode Island. Normally, more of the warmer water would be drawn more out into mid-ocean. Although sea surface temps would get this warm…they are a good two weeks ahead. This is however a NORMAL fluctuation in the position of the Bermuda High…and has nothing to do with climate change/global warming/global cooling…etc. It will however increase the hurricane threat along the Atlantic coast from Florida to Rhode Island. Since any hurricane that moves along the Atlantic Coast will have little cooler water to weaken it. As most of you know… cooler waters tend to weaken hurricanes. As you can see by the current map NOAA SEA TEMP MAP:




… off Rhode Island, Long Island/Connecticut, New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland - the Atlantic has now reached from 72 F to 77 F (22 – 25 C)…

…off the Virginia and North Carolina coast the Atlantic is now 80 to 81 F…

…while from South Carolina south to off Florida (off map) the Atlantic is from 82 to 85 F (28 –29 C). Parts of the Florida Keys and the West Gulf Coast of Florida have 86 F (30 C) ocean temperatures. These places have a good shot of having 90 F waters by late August (normally the peak).

Only off New England (Massachusetts’s northward) is the Atlantic still realtively cool (around 65 F) .

To put that in perspective with Hawaii or the West Coast…right now the Pacific off Oahu Island (Hawaii) is 81 F…the Pacific off Guam is 81.7 F and the Pacific off Santa Monica, California (LA) is 68 F.

Thought weather-watchers on the Atlantic Coast would find the map interesting.

[Infamous92]

Warmer waters are good for beach days.

Hurricanes tend to form late August/early September but what if one decides to form now, its not going to weaken any so thats a little scary.