Heat: Even the ocean's sweating
In the heat wave, the subtropics come to the Shore.
During the previous two summers, the waters at the Jersey Shore were memorably warm.
As Jim Eberwine, the retired longtime marine forecaster at the local National Weather Service calculated, the average sea-surface temperature off Atlantic City for the June 1-Sept. 30, 2012, period -- 72.9 -- constituted a record.
It beat the previous record, 72.4, for 2011, by a full 0.5 degrees.
This summer, the ocean has been generally cooler, thanks to healthy rain runoff and upwelling, but that's not the case right now.
Water temperatures near Cape this evening are close to 80, about 6 degrees above normal levels.The 74.8 off Atlantic City is about 5 above normal, and the 82.9 at Sandy Hook, almost 12 above.
It's not just around here. On the National Oceanographic Data Center site, we are seeing well-above normal surf temperatures from Florida to New England.