Atlantic hot tub
Water temperatures at the Shore still off the charts.
At 9 this morning, the surf temperature off Cape May was 78.4 degrees.
Not only is that 9.4 degrees above the normal level for the date, its 4.4 degrees above the normal water temperature for any day in summer.
What's going on out there?
It has little to do with this recent hot spell. As noted, overall June has been quite comfortable, and, ironically, had it been warmer around here it's likely the surf would be cooler.
As Walt Drag explained in this morning's National Weather Service discussion, the warm waters are the legacy of the quite-mild winter and early summer.
Typically, our long-lasting heat waves result from Bermuda highs, so-called because they are centered near Bermuda.
Winds blow clockwise around centers of high pressure, so those of us to the west of the center bake in moist winds from the torrid south.
When those winds persist, they can blow away warm layers of water; think of blowing steam across a hot cup of coffee.
That allows the colder, deeper waters to replace the warm layers. And that cooler water is out there; on the map, you'll see that the warm stuff is hugging the coast from the Mid-Atlantic to Newfoundland.
Right now, no Bermuda-high heat waves are taking shape, and Drag said the warm water may be there "indefinitely."