Warmest Oceans on Record Could Set Off a Year of
Extreme Weather
“In the Gulf of Mexico, where offshore drilling
accounts for about 17% of U.S. oil output, water temperatures were 76.3 degrees
Fahrenheit (24.6 Celsius), 1.7 degrees above the long-term average, said Phil
Klotzbach at Colorado State University. If Gulf waters stay warm, it could be
the fuel that intensifies any storm that comes that way, Klotzbach said.
“The entire tropical ocean is above average,” said
Michelle L’Heureux, a forecaster at the U.S. Climate Prediction Center. “And
there is a global warming component to that. It is really amazing when you look
at all the tropical oceans and see how warm they are.””
Climate Change Brings Summertime Heat to Florida’s
Early Spring