Florida Ocean As Hot As Hot Tub, Surpasses 100 Degrees Fahrenheit: Report

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the normal water temperatures for the area around this time of year should range somewhere between 73F and 88F (23C and 31C).

Another heat record has potentially been broken as the surface ocean temperature around the Florida Keys (a string of tropical islands) shot up to 101.19 Fahrenheit (38.43 Degrees Celsius) this week. As per the US government data, the water temperature buoy located in the waters of Manatee Bay at the Everglades national park recorded the high temperature late on Monday afternoon. As per a report of the Guardian, other nearby buoys topped 100F (38C) and the upper 90s (32C). According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the normal water temperatures for the area around this time of year should range somewhere between 73F and 88F (23C and 31C). The Guardian reported that the level of heat that has been recorded this week in the said area is about the same as a hot tub.

Though the records for ocean surface temperature are not kept but, as per a 2020 study, the highest temperature observed was 99.7F (37.61C) in the Persian Gulf, as reported by the Guardian.

These extreme readings add to the previous warnings regarding Florida's warming weather in the south-eastern United States. An extreme heatwave grapples the south Florida coast and it threatens marine life as well as the ocean ecosystems.

Derek Manzello, with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Coral Reef Watch, while talking to CNN last week said, “We didn’t expect this heating to happen so early in the year and to be so extreme. This appears to be unprecedented in our records.”

Heatwaves have been affecting the world's oceans, destroying kelp, seagrass, corals, and much more like the “wildfires that take out huge areas of forest,” reported the Guardian. As per research in 2019, the number of ocean heatwave days has tripled in recent years.

Experts have warned that these heatwaves are expected to persist through August. This rise in frequency as well as the intensity of severe weather both on land and in oceans is a symptom of the global, human-driven climate crisis.

The United Nations’ World Meteorological Organization (WMO) earlier this month reported that global sea temperatures have hit monthly record highs since May. One of the factors behind this rise is also driven in part by an El Nino event. 

Such high temperatures in Florida pose a threat to human food supplies and livelihoods as well.

As per NOAA, the warmer water around Florida could supercharge tropical storms and hurricanes, which build more energy over warmer waters, reported the Guardian.