CLEARWATER, Fla. — The Gulf of Mexico water temperature at Clearwater Beach hit 90 degrees on Sunday for the first time this year — an impressive feat kicking off the summer season amid widespread warmth already in the tropics.
Data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) station located at Pier 60 at Clearwater Beach show the water temperature hit the 90-degree mark Sunday evening before the typical cool-off during the night. It's well above the average of around 85 degrees this time of year.
This bathwater again rose to 90.3 degrees Monday afternoon as beachgoers flocked to the shoreline for the extended Memorial Day weekend.
In 2023, the water temperature hit 90 degrees on May 23. It took until the middle of June to reach the same level in 2022. Looking into the past decade to 2014, only in 2023 and 2024 did the water temperature hit 90 degrees in May.
It's not just this one station experiencing abnormally warm water temperatures. Brian McNoldy, a tropical meteorology researcher at the University of Miami, noted that the overall ocean heat content in the Gulf of Mexico is the highest it's been for this time of year.
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Scientists are concerned about the warmth across the Atlantic Ocean, too, and have issued aggressive hurricane season forecasts in response. It's water temperatures, coupled with La Niña conditions, that largely promote storm activity. NOAA's forecast last week called for an 85% chance of an above-average season, predicting 17-25 named storms.
Of those, eight to 13 could achieve hurricane status (wind speeds of 74 mph or greater) and four to seven reach major hurricane strength (winds 111 mph or greater).
"Things really went off the rails last spring (2023) and they haven't gotten back to the rails since then," McNoldy told The Associated Press, speaking about record hot water.