Florida in hot water as ocean temperatures rise
along with the humidity
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Record global ocean heating has invaded Florida with a vengeance.
Water temperatures in the mid-90s... (!)
If that’s not enough, Florida is about to get a dose of dust from Africa’s Saharan desert that’s likely to hurt air quality.
The globe is coming off a week of heat not seen in modern measurements, the World Meteorological Organization said Monday...
Global sea surface temperatures have been record high since April and the North Atlantic has been off-the-charts hot since mid-March, meteorologists report as climate change...
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Now it’s Florida’s turn.
Water temperature near Johnson Key came close to 96 degrees (35.6 degrees Celsius) Sunday evening, according to a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration buoy. Another buoy had a reading close to 95 (35 Celsius) near Vaca Key. These are about 5 degrees warmer than normal this time of year...
“That’s incredible,” said National Weather Service meteorologist Andrew Orrison. “The water is so warm you really can’t cool off.”
While the 95- and 96-degree readings were in shallow waters, “the water temperatures are 90 to 93 degrees Fahrenheit around much of Florida, which is extremely warm,"...
Water temperatures across the Gulf of Mexico and Southwest Atlantic are 4 to 5 degrees (2 to 3 degrees Celsius) warmer than normal, Orrison said. Because the water is so warm, the air in Florida gets more humid and “that’s making things tougher or more oppressive for people who are going to be out and about"... humidity worsened by the hot oceans...
[I have experienced that first hand.]
Then there’s that Sahara dust.
With little rain to keep the soil grounded, it’s common this time of year for plumes of dust particles from the Sahara Desert to blow across the Atlantic on upper-level winds. It takes strong winds to push them all the way to Florida so it doesn’t happen often.
One plume settled over South Florida on Monday, and the next plume was expected later in the week, said Sammy Hadi, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Miami. The plumes typically stay two to three days, and dry the atmosphere so there are fewer of the afternoon rains that are typical for Florida summers.
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One plus: sunlight bouncing off those dust particles produces more vivid sunrises and sunsets.
“In general, it makes the sunrises and sunsets more vibrant and beautiful,”😏