Gulf Coast waters are hotter than ever
NATION
The Washington Post
A relentless heat dome that has parked over the Gulf Coast region for much of summer reached a climax late last week and this weekend, bringing some of the highest temperatures ever recorded from coastal Texas to southern Alabama.
Houston and New Orleans were among the many locations that observed their hottest weather on record, reaching 109 and 105 degrees, respectively. The all-time high in New Orleans came amid an unprecedented August in which it has set calendar-day record highs on 20 of 28 days. About 175 miles to the east, Pensacola, Fla., has set record highs on 13 days this month.
The excessive heat lining the Gulf Coast is linked to the same record-warm gulf waters — in the upper 80s to near 90 — that are forecast to fuel Tropical Storm Idalia’s rapid intensification into a Category 3 hurricane before striking Florida’s west coast.
Gulfport, Miss., hit 107 degrees Saturday, marking “the hottest temperature ever observed for a site right on the Gulf coast anywhere in the U.S.,” weather historian Christopher Burt wrote in a message on Facebook. “The sea surface temperatures off Gulfport are at 88, which is about as warm as they can be there.”
Temperatures reached a pinnacle along the Gulf Coast late last week and over the weekend — rising to 100 to 115 degrees. Underneath the relentless heat dome, the sea surface temperatures of the gulf have cooked, warming more than 3 degrees above the norm for the date.
The water has also heated up far beneath the surface. In fact, temperatures of nearly 88 degrees are common to depths of 165 feet below the surface, according to data posted to Twitter by Kim Wood, a professor of meteorology at Mississippi State University. University of Miami hurricane scientist Andy Hazelton called the ocean heat “other-worldly.”
Water temperatures where Idalia is forecast to track this week are the warmest they have been since at least 1982, according to catastrophe researcher Richard Dixon.
Somewhat lower temperatures are forecast along the Gulf Coast for the next few days, but it’s probably not the end of the heat for many locations. Triple- digit heat becomes increasingly difficult to attain moving through September across the region, but temperatures are projected to remain above normal through September.
