The water temperature off southern Florida has been about 38 C two days in a row: that’s as hot as a hot tub, as hot as the maximum recommended heat for a baby’s bath, and hotter than what’s usually recommended for a pregnant woman.
It’s also, meteorologists say, possibly the hottest seawater ever measured. The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) says weather records for sea water temperature are unofficial and there are certain conditions in this reading that could disqualify it for a top mark, but the initial reading on a buoy at Manatee Bay hit about 38.4 C Monday evening. The night before, it was 37.9 C. “This is a hot tub. I like my hot tub around 100, 101, [37.8, 38.3 C]. That’s what was recorded yesterday,” said Yale Climate Connections meteorologist Jeff Masters. If verified, the Monday reading would break the prior record set in the waters off Kuwait three summers ago, 37.6 C. Bleaching — which doesn’t kill coral, but weakens it and can lead to death — occurs when water temperatures exceed the low 30s. This all comes as sea surface temperatures worldwide have broken monthly records for heat in April, May and June, according to NOAA.
Source: cbc.ca
Wednesday, April 22, 2026
